Coming together around a
shared, long-term goal
Hawaiʻi’s Structural workforce challenges
The next generation needs us to address
job Quantity
Hawaiʻi doesn’t have enough good jobs. A majority of projected job openings through 2035 do not pay a living wage.
170k youth will enter the workforce over next decade, but only 101k living wage job openings are projected over same time period.
Underemployment
The pathway from education to employment is not guaranteed. Only 43% of four-year college graduates work in a degree-requiring job within five years.
Hawaiʻi’s median wage outcomes are the lowest in the nation after adjusting for cost of living.
Geography
Job availability, wages, and education program offerings vary dramatically by island.
Transportation and distance amplify barriers for rural communities, with neighbor island residents facing the greatest challenges and barriers to high-opportunity pathways.
The Generational Workforce Commitment
A shared north star
By 2045, all people of Hawaiʻi will have a path to a career that enables them to learn, work, and thrive in Hawaiʻi and contribute to a vibrant economy grounded in community values.
The commitment
The Commitment offers a statewide, long-term structure that allows partners to plan beyond individual programs or funding cycles, while connecting diverse efforts to a broader generational horizon.
Many agencies and organizations in Hawaiʻi already hold their own workforce goals tied to their missions, mandates, and communities. But a consistent insight has emerged: none of these goals can be fully achieved in isolation. The challenges facing learners and workers cut across education, training, economic development, and employer demand. No single agency is responsible for all of these conditions, and no entity can meaningfully shift outcomes without relying on the work of others. This interdependence is the defining reality of workforce development. It calls for a bold, shared, long-term commitment that sits above any single department or sector.
Hawaiʻi's Generational Workforce Commitment offers that framework: a collaborative vision that honors individual agency goals while providing a unifying direction that can only be achieved together.
The Commitment is a generational goal: that by 2045, all people of Hawaiʻi will have a path to a career that enables them to learn, work, and thrive in Hawaiʻi and contribute to a vibrant economy grounded in community values.
Good work is underway,
but there’s still lots to do.
Join the Learn work thrive Hui
The Learn Work Thrive Hui includes stakeholders from government; nonprofits and philanthropy; education and training; and employers and industry. We come together because we are already doing the work, and realize that no one can make the kind of change we wish to see alone. We focus on implementation, action and impact.
