What education levels are typically required for projected below-living-wage job openings in Honolulu County?
Workforce Understory Episode: Season 1, Episode 1 — The Geography of Opportunity
Geography: Honolulu County
Topic: Living-wage opportunity and education requirements
The takeaway
Among Honolulu County’s projected job openings below the living-wage threshold, 52% typically require no formal education and another 34% require only a high school diploma or equivalent.
Although Honolulu has the lowest share of below-living-wage openings requiring no formal education among Hawaiʻi’s counties, 86% remain accessible without a postsecondary credential.
Another 4% of projected below-living-wage openings typically require a bachelor’s degree—the highest county-level share in the state.
Honolulu’s below-living-wage workforce has somewhat higher education requirements than those of the Neighbor Islands, but additional education still does not guarantee access to a living-wage job.
What this visualization shows
This visualization examines the education typically required for projected job openings in Honolulu County that pay below the living-wage threshold.
As in every county, most below-living-wage openings are concentrated in occupations with relatively low formal barriers to entry. More than half require no formal education, and another one-third require only a high school diploma or equivalent.
Yet Honolulu’s profile differs somewhat from those of the Neighbor Islands. Its share of below-living-wage openings requiring no formal education is lower, while a slightly larger share requires some form of postsecondary education.
Most notably, 4% of Honolulu’s projected below-living-wage openings are in occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree.
That share is small, but it raises an important concern. A four-year degree is often treated as a reliable pathway toward economic security. This visualization shows that some degree-requiring jobs in Honolulu are still projected to pay less than the local living-wage threshold.
The education required to enter a job and the wages that job provides are related, but they are not the same thing.
Why this matters
Honolulu offers more bachelor’s-level employment than any other county, but its cost of living is also high. A job may require substantial education and still fail to provide enough income for a worker to achieve financial stability.
For degree holders, that can create a difficult return-on-investment problem. Workers may spend years completing college and take on significant costs, only to enter occupations whose wages do not keep pace with housing, transportation, food, childcare, and other essential expenses.
This may contribute to underemployment, delayed financial independence, multiple-job holding, or decisions to leave Hawaiʻi for stronger earnings elsewhere.
At the same time, most projected below-living-wage openings remain concentrated among occupations requiring no postsecondary education. That means Honolulu faces two related challenges: improving the quality of its most accessible jobs and ensuring that education and credentials translate into stronger economic outcomes.
The presence of bachelor’s-degree-level jobs below the living-wage threshold also suggests that wage adequacy cannot be understood through education requirements alone. Communities need to examine the specific occupations, industries, employers, and wage structures behind the numbers.
This evidence invites Honolulu to ask:
Why do some jobs requiring substantial education still fail to provide economic security—and what would it take to change that?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
What share of Honolulu’s below-living-wage openings requires no formal education?
How many projected below-living-wage openings require only a high school diploma or equivalent?
How does Honolulu’s education profile compare with those of the Neighbor Island counties?
What share of below-living-wage openings requires a bachelor’s degree?
Does higher educational attainment consistently provide access to living-wage work in Honolulu?
Are Honolulu’s below-living-wage jobs more likely to require additional education than similar jobs elsewhere in the state?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Which occupations account for the 4% of below-living-wage openings requiring a bachelor’s degree?
Are these jobs concentrated in education, healthcare, social services, arts, nonprofit organizations, public service, or other fields?
Why do these occupations remain below the living-wage threshold despite requiring a four-year degree?
Are wages failing to keep pace with Honolulu’s rising cost of living?
Do entry-level wages eventually lead to living-wage earnings through advancement, or do workers remain below the threshold over time?
How common is underemployment among Honolulu residents with bachelor’s degrees?
Are employers requiring degrees for jobs that do not genuinely need them?
How do wages for the same occupations compare between Honolulu and other high-cost regions?
Which below-living-wage occupations requiring no formal education offer credible pathways toward advancement?
What employer practices or public policies could improve wages, benefits, scheduling, and job stability in Honolulu’s most accessible jobs?
How does the return on investment of a bachelor’s degree differ across occupations and fields of study?
Are recent graduates, women, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers, immigrants, or other groups disproportionately represented in degree-requiring jobs below the living wage?
Is the share of degree-requiring jobs below the living-wage threshold increasing as costs rise?
What additional data would help distinguish between temporary entry-level underpayment and a persistent structural wage problem?
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