Limited job opportunities are in store for about 30% of the nearly 170,000 youth who are projected to enter Hawaiʻi’s workforce over the next decade, according to a new report pressing for urgent action.
The University of Hawaiʻi is joining forces with statewide partners to address Hawaiʻi’s complex workforce challenges, spotlighted in the From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawaiʻi’s Workforce Resilience report by the Hawaiʻi Workforce Funders Collaborative (HWFC).
During a July 11 presentation to the UH Workforce Learning Community, HWFC Executive Director Matt Stevens emphasized the importance of statewide stakeholder collaboration to reshape education and job pathways.
“There aren’t going to be enough good jobs, and the education pathways we have aren’t necessarily leading to jobs that pay enough to survive,” Stevens said. “If we don’t create bold, strategic actions together as a system, we really do risk losing the next generation of workers before their careers even begin.”
Stackable credentials, curricula alignment, more
The report makes recommendations for a wide range of stakeholders. Its higher education recommendations include enhancing career counseling, building stackable credentials (a series of smaller credentials, such as certificates, that can be combined to build toward a degree), expanding microcredential programs, and aligning curricula with high-growth sectors such as healthcare, clean energy and technology.
“There’s a big collaborative effort to align our initiatives and adopt best practices in our state to see if we can actually make some measurable progress on workforce development goals,” said Christine Beaule, UH director of workforce development. “UH is a key collaborator to strengthen workforce opportunities with partners in the Hawaiʻi Department of Education, industry, other state agencies, and the philanthropic sector.”
Additional strategies call for using real-time data to inform program design, strengthening employer partnerships and redesigning on-campus jobs to include mentorship and skill-building. There are both short-term and long-term recommendations for other stakeholder groups such as government, K–12 education, and business and industry.
“This is not just about education reform,” Stevens said. “It’s about ensuring every resident has a chance at a future-ready, family-sustaining career—one that lets them stay and thrive in Hawaiʻi.”
The report envisions 100% of working-age residents having access to quality, locally rooted career opportunities by 2035.
