How does the number of young people projected to enter Kauaʻi County’s workforce compare with the number of living-wage job openings available between 2022 and 2032?
Workforce Understory Episode: Season 1, Episode 1 — The Geography of Opportunity
Geography: Kauaʻi County
Topic: Living-wage opportunity, projected job growth, and job quality
The takeaway
Kauaʻi County is projected to have 9,269 young people enter its workforce between 2022 and 2032.
During the same period, the county is projected to generate approximately 2,700 living-wage job openings—enough to provide a corresponding opportunity for only about 29% of its projected workforce entrants.
That is the lowest coverage rate among Hawaiʻi’s counties and leaves a gap equivalent to approximately 6,569 young people.
Fewer than one in three projected workforce entrants on Kauaʻi may have a living-wage job available to them.
What this visualization shows
This visualization compares the number of young people projected to enter Kauaʻi County’s workforce with the number of job openings expected to meet or exceed the county’s living-wage threshold.
The comparison reveals a significant structural mismatch. More than 9,000 young people are projected to enter the workforce over the decade, but only about 2,700 living-wage openings are expected to become available.
This does not mean that every living-wage opening will go to a new workforce entrant or that each entrant will compete for only one job. Incumbent workers seeking advancement, adults returning to employment, and people moving to Kauaʻi may pursue the same opportunities.
Instead, the visualization provides a high-level measure of whether Kauaʻi’s economy is generating quality employment at a scale that matches the next generation of workers.
The county’s small labor market makes the mismatch especially consequential. When relatively few living-wage jobs are available overall, young people have fewer employers, occupations, and career pathways from which to choose.
The challenge is therefore larger than helping people prepare for the jobs that exist.
It is whether Kauaʻi’s economy can create enough quality opportunities for more young people to build their futures on the island.
Why this matters
Kauaʻi’s projected workforce entrants are growing up in communities where family, culture, and place are deeply important. Yet remaining on the island often depends on whether they can find work that supports the local cost of living.
When only 29% of projected entrants have a corresponding living-wage opening, many young people may face difficult choices. They may accept work below the living-wage threshold, combine multiple jobs, remain dependent on family support, postpone financial independence, or leave Kauaʻi in search of broader career opportunities.
This challenge cannot be solved through workforce preparation alone.
Education, internships, training, and career navigation can help young people develop skills and connect with employers. But those investments cannot create economic mobility if the local economy does not generate enough living-wage jobs to absorb the talent being developed.
Kauaʻi may therefore need to pursue several strategies at once: improving the quality of existing jobs, creating clearer advancement pathways, strengthening sectors with living-wage potential, and exploring new forms of economic activity that are compatible with the island’s scale and community values.
The county’s small size may constrain the number of opportunities it can produce. It may also make focused, coordinated action more possible.
This evidence invites Kauaʻi to ask:
How can a small island economy create enough living-wage opportunity for more young people to remain, contribute, and build their lives at home?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
How many young people are projected to enter Kauaʻi’s workforce over the decade?
How many living-wage job openings are projected during the same period?
What share of Kauaʻi’s incoming workforce may have access to a living-wage opportunity?
How does Kauaʻi’s coverage rate compare with those of Hawaiʻi’s other counties?
How large is the gap between projected workforce entrants and living-wage openings?
Is Kauaʻi’s economy creating quality employment at a scale that can support its future workforce?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Why is Kauaʻi’s living-wage coverage rate the lowest in the state?
How much of the gap is explained by the county’s small overall economy?
Does Kauaʻi have enough diversity among industries, occupations, and employers to create additional living-wage opportunities?
Which sectors currently generate most of the county’s living-wage openings?
Which sectors employ large numbers of people but produce relatively few living-wage jobs?
What happens to the approximately 6,569 projected entrants without a corresponding living-wage opening?
How many young people may leave Kauaʻi because they cannot find sustainable employment?
Can existing industries improve wages, benefits, job stability, and advancement opportunities at meaningful scale?
Which emerging sectors could expand living-wage employment without undermining Kauaʻi’s community and environmental priorities?
What role could healthcare, construction, renewable energy, skilled trades, remote work, technology, or locally rooted enterprises play?
Are Kauaʻi’s education and training programs aligned with the limited living-wage opportunities that do exist?
How can young people access specialized education or training without permanently leaving the island?
What kinds of employer partnerships or shared training models are feasible in a small labor market?
Which workforce strategies from larger counties could be adapted to Kauaʻi, and which depend on economic scale that the island does not have?
Is Kauaʻi’s ratio of living-wage openings to workforce entrants improving or worsening over time?
Youth Perspective
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