Which occupation groups are projected to generate the most living-wage job openings in Kauaʻi County 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, occupation groups, and economic diversity
The takeaway
Business and Management occupations are projected to account for 33% of Kauaʻi County’s living-wage job openings between 2022 and 2032.
Construction and Repair occupations represent another 33%. Healthcare, Protective Service, Administrative, and Cleaning and Maintenance occupations account for most of the remaining opportunity.
Together, Business and Management and Construction and Repair represent approximately two-thirds of Kauaʻi’s projected living-wage openings.
Kauaʻi’s living-wage economy is concentrated in a very small number of occupation groups.
What this visualization shows
This visualization compares the distribution of projected living-wage job openings across major occupation groups in Kauaʻi County.
Business and Management and Construction and Repair dominate the picture, each accounting for approximately one-third of projected living-wage openings. Beyond those two groups, only a short list of additional occupations appears at a meaningful scale.
The distribution is more concentrated than it is in Hawaiʻi’s other counties.
Each of the leading groups may offer a different pathway into economic mobility. Business and Management includes occupations across industries, but many positions may require prior experience, supervisory responsibility, professional networks, or a bachelor’s degree. Construction and Repair may offer more accessible routes through apprenticeships, technical education, licensing, and workplace learning.
Healthcare, Protective Service, Administrative, and Cleaning and Maintenance occupations may provide additional opportunities, but their relatively small shares suggest that workers have a limited range of living-wage pathways from which to choose.
The visualization therefore shows both where Kauaʻi’s strongest opportunities currently exist and how dependent the island is on a narrow segment of its labor market.
Why this matters
Kauaʻi is projected to generate relatively few living-wage openings overall. When two occupation groups account for approximately two-thirds of those opportunities, changes affecting either one could have significant consequences for the island’s workforce.
A slowdown in construction, reduced investment, changes in tourism-related development, or declining demand for management positions could sharply reduce the number of jobs providing economic security.
Workers may have few alternative pathways if their skills, interests, or circumstances do not align with the dominant occupation groups. The limited range of opportunity may also make it harder for residents to change careers without leaving the island.
At the same time, the concentration provides a clear starting point for workforce strategy. Kauaʻi can strengthen pathways into the occupations already creating living-wage work through apprenticeships, technical education, employer partnerships, career navigation, and incumbent-worker advancement.
But strengthening existing pathways may not be enough.
Kauaʻi may also need to explore which emerging industries and locally rooted economic opportunities could broaden its living-wage occupation mix over time. Renewable energy, aquaculture, technology-enabled work, healthcare, skilled trades, and other fields may hold potential, but that potential will depend on whether employers and quality jobs can develop at sufficient scale.
This evidence invites Kauaʻi to ask:
How can the island strengthen its largest living-wage pathways while creating a broader and more resilient range of career opportunities?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
What share of Kauaʻi’s projected living-wage openings is concentrated in Business and Management?
How significant is Construction and Repair within the county’s living-wage economy?
Which additional occupation groups contribute meaningful numbers of living-wage openings?
How concentrated is Kauaʻi’s living-wage opportunity across occupation groups?
Which pathways may offer enough opportunity to justify coordinated education, training, and employer investment?
How does Kauaʻi’s occupation mix compare with those of Hawaiʻi’s other counties?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Which specific occupations account for the 33% of living-wage openings in Business and Management?
Are those opportunities accessible to local workers without bachelor’s degrees or prior management experience?
Which construction and repair occupations are projected to generate the most openings?
Are Kauaʻi’s apprenticeship and technical-training pipelines large enough to meet projected demand?
How dependent are construction opportunities on tourism, real estate development, public infrastructure, or major capital projects?
Which Healthcare and Protective Service occupations provide living-wage opportunities?
Why do so few other occupation groups appear at a meaningful scale?
How vulnerable is Kauaʻi’s living-wage economy to a downturn in Business and Management or Construction and Repair?
Are workers able to transfer their skills between the island’s leading occupation groups?
Which emerging industries could broaden Kauaʻi’s living-wage economy over the next decade?
Could renewable energy, aquaculture, technology, healthcare, remote work, or locally rooted enterprises create quality jobs at meaningful scale?
What education, infrastructure, employer investment, or public policy would be required to develop those opportunities?
Can the island diversify its economy without undermining environmental, cultural, and community priorities?
How can employers create stronger advancement pathways within the occupation groups that already exist?
Is Kauaʻi’s living-wage occupation mix becoming more diverse or more concentrated over time?
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