What education levels will projected job openings in Honolulu County require?
Workforce Understory Episode: Season 1, Episode 1 — The Geography of Opportunity
Geography: Honolulu County
Topic: Living-wage opportunity, projected job growth, and education requirements
The takeaway
Among Hawaiʻi’s counties, Honolulu has the highest share of projected living-wage job openings requiring a bachelor’s degree, at 47%. It also has the lowest share accessible with only a high school diploma, at 30%. Nearly half of Honolulu’s projected living-wage openings require a bachelor’s degree.
What this visualization shows
This visualization compares the education typically required for projected job openings in Honolulu County, distinguishing between openings that meet the living-wage threshold and those that do not.
The comparison reveals that education requirements are connected not only to whether someone can find work, but also to the quality of the opportunities available to them. Honolulu offers jobs across multiple education levels, but access to living-wage work is more closely tied to bachelor’s-degree attainment than it is in Hawaiʻi’s other counties.
At the same time, a bachelor’s degree is not the only route to economic security. Nearly one-third of Honolulu’s projected living-wage openings require no more than a high school diploma, reinforcing the importance of understanding which occupations provide strong wages through experience, technical preparation, apprenticeships, or other non-degree pathways.
Why this matters
Education is often presented as a straightforward path toward economic mobility: earn a higher credential and gain access to better employment. This visualization shows why the relationship is more complicated.
For Honolulu residents, a bachelor’s degree provides access to a substantial share of projected living-wage opportunities. That makes affordable and equitable access to higher education an important workforce issue. Yet a strategy focused only on bachelor’s-degree attainment would overlook thousands of living-wage openings available through other routes.
Communities therefore face a dual challenge. They must help more learners successfully navigate pathways into degree-requiring careers while also identifying, strengthening, and making visible the living-wage opportunities that do not require a four-year degree.
This evidence invites Honolulu to ask a more meaningful question:
How can we expand access to living-wage work without treating a bachelor’s degree as the only route to economic security?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
How do education requirements differ between living-wage and below-living-wage openings in Honolulu?
What share of Honolulu’s living-wage opportunities is accessible with a high school diploma?
How much of Honolulu’s projected living-wage employment requires a bachelor’s degree?
How do the education requirements for Honolulu’s living-wage openings compare with those in other counties?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
How do education requirements vary by industry, occupation, or career field?
Why are Honolulu’s living-wage openings more likely to require a bachelor’s degree?
Which occupations account for the large share of bachelor’s-degree-level openings?
Which living-wage careers remain accessible through high school, community college, apprenticeships, technical education, or employer-based training?
Do stated education requirements consistently reflect the skills needed to perform the work, or do some function as unnecessary barriers?
How can Honolulu strengthen advancement opportunities for workers who do not hold a bachelor’s degree?
Youth Perspective
Contributor: Ben Tang
Role: Student Researcher, AE Consulting
Responding to:
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