Hawaii’s economy was pumping in the first quarter, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

“We are pleased to see that during the first quarter, total civilian labor force, civilian employment and civilian nonagriculture payroll jobs were the highest quarterly numbers in Hawaii’s history,” said DBEDT Director Luis P. Salaveria. “With nearly 2.2 million visitor arrivals, first quarter 2016 was the second-best quarter since visitor numbers were recorded.”

General excise tax revenue was up 4.6 percent in the first quarter.

DBEDT is predicting Hawaii’s economy overall will grow by 2.3 percent in 2016 and 2.4 percent in 2017. That forecast is unchanged from DBEDT February number, and beats the expected U.S. economic growth rates of 1.8 percent for 2016 and 2.3 percent for 2017.

“Hawaii experienced a record year in 2015 for the construction industry,” said Chief State Economist Eugene Tian. “The value of construction completed was $8.1 billion in 2015 and was historically the record high level in nominal terms.”

In the first quarter this year, construction jobs grew by 20.4 percent, which was the highest quarterly growth rate since 1990. During March , there were 40,200 workers on construction projects in Hawaii, a record level, DBEDT said.

The agency warned, however, that “with the completion of the Ala Moana Shopping Center renovation, the commercial and industrial construction activities will be slowing down this year. “

During the first quarter, 14,400 nonagriculture payroll jobs were added, an increase of 2.3 percent. The construction industry contributed 46 percent of the total gain with an increase of 6,600 jobs, DBEDT said.

Hawaii had 667,100 people employed during the first quarter, a historic high, DBEDT said.