Which University of Hawaiʻi four-year degree programs lead to living-wage earnings within five years of graduation, and how quickly do graduates reach that threshold?
Workforce Understory Episode: Episode Two — Understanding Underemployment
Geography: Statewide
Topic: Graduate earnings, program scale, living-wage attainment, and education outcomes
The takeaway
None of the University of Hawaiʻi four-year degree programs shown reaches the living-wage threshold during the first year after graduation.
Registered Nursing is the first to cross the threshold, reaching median wages of approximately $79,611 by year two. By year five, Nursing leads the programs shown at approximately $109,013.
Electrical and Communications Engineering follows at approximately $86,020 in year five, with Civil Engineering reaching approximately $78,571. Special Education and Teaching reaches approximately $63,098, only narrowly surpassing the living-wage threshold after five years.
The UH degrees that lead most quickly to living-wage earnings are concentrated in a small number of specialized fields, particularly Nursing and Engineering.
What this visualization shows
This visualization follows the median wages associated with selected University of Hawaiʻi four-year degree programs during the first five years after graduation.
In the first year, none of the programs shown provides median wages above the living-wage threshold. Even graduates from fields that eventually produce strong earnings begin their careers below the level needed to meet Hawaiʻi’s cost of living.
The trajectories begin to separate in subsequent years.
Registered Nursing crosses the living-wage threshold first and continues to produce the strongest wage growth among the programs shown. Electrical and Communications Engineering and Civil Engineering also reach living-wage earnings, although their trajectories take longer to cross the threshold.
Other programs show much slower wage growth. Special Education and Teaching, despite preparing graduates for a field in which Hawaiʻi has persistent workforce needs, only narrowly reaches the living-wage threshold by year five.
The comparison demonstrates that degree completion alone does not determine a graduate’s early economic outcome. Field of study, occupation, industry demand, wage structures, licensing requirements, and opportunities for advancement all appear to shape how quickly a degree translates into financial security.
Why this matters
Students are often told that earning a bachelor’s degree will improve their economic prospects. At a broad level, that remains an important reason many people pursue higher education.
But the timeline and likelihood of reaching economic stability vary substantially by program.
Graduates entering Nursing and Engineering may eventually earn wages well above the living-wage threshold, yet even those pathways may begin with a period of lower earnings. For graduates in other programs, the transition may take considerably longer—or may not occur within the first five years at all.
That distinction matters for students planning how to finance their education, repay debt, afford housing, support family members, and remain in Hawaiʻi after graduation.
It also matters for fields such as Special Education. Hawaiʻi depends on educators willing to serve students with complex needs, yet the wage trajectory suggests that graduates may spend years providing an essential public service without achieving meaningful economic security themselves.
When mission-driven careers depend on workers accepting persistent financial strain, workforce shortages are not simply a recruitment problem. They may reflect how society values and compensates essential work.
This evidence invites Hawaiʻi to ask:
Which degrees provide a timely path toward economic security—and what must change in the fields where socially essential work does not?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
Which degree program is the first to reach the living-wage threshold?
Which programs produce the highest median wages five years after graduation?
How long does it take Engineering graduates to reach living-wage earnings?
Which essential public-service programs only narrowly reach a living wage?
How much do early-career wage trajectories vary by field of study?
Does completing a bachelor’s degree provide an equally reliable route to economic security across programs?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Why do Engineering programs take two or three years to cross the living-wage threshold despite producing relatively strong long-term wages?
Do lower early-career Engineering wages reflect entry-level hiring practices, limited employer demand, licensing pathways, or Hawaiʻi-specific market conditions?
Which degree programs are absent from the visualization because their median wages never reach the living-wage threshold within five years?
How many graduates are represented in each program?
Are the programs with the strongest wage outcomes large enough to serve significantly more students?
Would expanding those programs create additional opportunity, or would employer demand limit how many graduates the local economy could absorb?
Why does Special Education and Teaching only narrowly cross the living-wage threshold after five years?
How do public-sector salary schedules affect graduate wage trajectories?
Are graduates from lower-paying public-service programs more likely to leave Hawaiʻi or leave their professions?
How do student debt and education costs change the practical value of the wages shown?
Do graduates remain employed in occupations related to their degrees?
How do wage trajectories differ by campus, employer, county, or industry?
How do outcomes vary by gender, race, family income, first-generation status, or other demographic characteristics?
What role do internships, clinical placements, professional networks, and work experience play in early-career wages?
Are graduates who leave Hawaiʻi earning more than those who remain?
Which programs combine strong wages with high completion rates, manageable costs, and sufficient employer demand?
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