The state’s multi-agency raid of construction work at Ala Moana Center brings up disturbing questions about local jobs within the industry, the quality of workers hired and of work being done, and the level of adherence to labor laws and rules. Those concerns are amplified amid the growing building boom fueling Hawaii’s economy — so it is imperative that regulators send a strong and clear enforcement message to all developers, contractors and subcontractors that operations must be above board.

On Monday, officials from the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) and the Department of Taxation, together with investigators from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Regulated Industry Complaints Office (RICO), descended on the Ala Moana job site — the center’s new Ewa wing. The action focused on at least nine establishments, triggered by a complaint from the Hawaii Construction Alliance, which represents some 15,000 trades-union members, including carpenters, cement masons and bricklayers.

“While the new shops at Ala Moana may have glamor appeal, let’s not overlook Hawaii’s workers and contractors who build them,” said Linda Chu Takayama, DLIR director. “Working people and local contractors need to benefit fairly from the luxury development going on around us.”

Misclassifying construction employees as independent contractors, or paying them “off the books” in cash, could affect Hawaii’s hard-working contractors, workers and state funds, the state said. Doing so avoids payments for unemployment insurance, workers comp, temporary disability insurance and health insurance; further, state and federal taxes are often not paid when licenses are not obtained to operate legally here.

That significant message has particular resonance now, with construction forecast to be one of Hawaii’s two strongest economic sectors. As Hawaii concludes a sixth year of rebound from the 2008-09 recession, “growth will continue, led by tourism and construction,” economist Jack Suyderhoud told last week’s 46th annual First Hawaiian Bank Business Outlook Forum.

Construction has been accelerating and is expected to gain momentum next year, he said, and that should help regain some of the 6,000 building jobs the state has yet to recover since the recession.

Evidence of the building boom can be seen in Kakaako, where construction cranes abound, busily engaged in condominium building; some 30 new towers are envisioned. And, of course, the rail-transit project — 20 miles of concrete and stations stretching from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center — was promised to provide a bevy of local construction jobs.

In order for all that projected job growth to be fully realized, labor rules and conditions need to be followed. For the construction sector, that’s what makes this week’s Ala Moana job-site investigation so crucial, the proverbial canary in a coal mine. The RICO investigators, for example, were checking that contractors and subcontractors there were properly licensed, and projects were appropriately supervised.

“Law-abiding contractors who pay their fair share face unfair competition and everyone pays more to make up for lost tax revenue, while employees suffer when their rights and benefits are reduced,” said Chu Takayama.

The state’s investigation is expected to take at least a couple of weeks, and citations and fines could be imposed. Center owner General Growth Properties Inc., for one, said it requires tenants to fully comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and said the issues are “between the state investigators and some tenants.” Work is being pushed for the new wing’s Nov. 12 opening.

Like it or not, a hefty amount of development is occurring on Oahu and the neighbor islands. Already, there is considerable struggle to keep some of that development — housing, for example — within reach of kamaainas’ pocketbooks and best interests. Every effort must be made to ensure that Hawaii’s construction boom brings optimal benefits for the local labor market and our state’s economy.