Shortage of workers growing

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

Carpentry student Gary Hosaka works on a cabinet as part of Honolulu Community College's apprenticeship program. A journeyman carpenter earns about $51,000. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I needed a change," Sabate explained. "I felt working at Costco is good, but when I left work, coming home, I didn't feel like I could apply it.

"I'm planning on owning my own land and building a house in the future, and I feel like this will help me get there without having to pay someone else to do it."

Sabate said his decision also was influenced by the anticipated need for construction workers in coming years, a demand so great that it's almost guaranteed he'll have a job.

The four other fast-growing occupations with the largest number of annual job openings in Hawai'i are healthcare practitioners, healthcare support workers, teachers and protective-service workers, which include police. In each field there's a significant number of openings as well as increasing concern that Hawai'i will not have enough people with the skills or interest to fill them.

Combined, the five occupational groups are expected to generate 4,830 openings a year statewide through the rest of the decade. Of that number, 2,270 will be new jobs, as opposed to job openings created through attrition, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

These in-demand jobs run the gamut from high-skill, high-wage positions such as registered nurses, who make an average $56,370 a year, to jobs that pay relatively low wages. Home health aides, for example, earn an average of $24,239 a year but they also have low entry-level requirements.

The large number of openings result from several factors, the most significant being the Islands' changing demographics, including the aging of its population, said Mike Boughton, chairman of the Hawaii Workforce Development Council.

"There is no question that we're already beginning to experience some serious job problems in the state," he said.

Shortages are also emerging because local schools have not kept up with the industry demand for skilled workers. And, in some cases, job seekers simply aren't interested in the openings that are available.

The bottom line for all of the five high-demand occupational areas is that there will be trouble ahead if the trends do not change, Boughton said.

Particularly as large numbers of nurses and teachers retire, Hawai'i residents could see a deterioration in healthcare and the quality of education in the classroom.

In other cases the gap between job openings and people needed to fill them results from market factors, such as the present building boom driven by low interest rates and planned military housing projects.

The labor department estimates the construction industry will have 730 openings annually during the next seven years, a figure labor experts said will be a challenge to fill.

To handle the demand for skilled trades workers, the Hawaii Carpenters Union and other groups are working with educational institutions to boost the intake and graduation rates of trade apprenticeship programs.

Honolulu Community College, for example, has 2,260 students in its trade programs compared with about 1,000 students three years ago.

Bruce Coppa, executive director of the Pacific Resource Partnership, an advocacy group representing the Hawaii Carpenters Union and unionized contractors, said efforts also are under way to develop a marketing campaign aimed at luring back those who left the skilled trades during the industry's lean years in the 1990s.

Apart from the good pay, skilled trades work "is hard work, but you can get a lot of satisfaction at the end of the day," Coppa said. "When you drive down the street and be able to look at something and say 'I built that' ... that's a great feeling."

Pay isn't nearly as high in areas such as teaching and protective services, but recruiters said those careers have other advantages.

"It's the satisfaction of watching and helping a student grow and develop, which is the reward of most educators, if not all educators — more than the satisfaction of bringing home a paycheck," said Bruce Shimomoto, a personnel specialist for the state Department of Education.

Similarly, officers at the Honolulu Police Department typically want to serve the public interest or make a difference in their community, said Lt. Robert Tome of the department's career center.

The department typically hires 157 officers each year, with officers starting at a salary of $33,408 during their probationary period, Tome said. As of the end of October, the department had 248 officer vacancies and 165 recruits in training.

"It's definitely not the money" that draws people to police work, he said. "You have to be committed. It's not for everyone, obviously."

Another advantage of high-demand positions is job security — an issue that shouldn't be a problem in the foreseeable future as openings continue to outstrip supply.

"There's going to be an increase in demand within a short period of time," Shimomoto said of education jobs.

"The opportunities in teaching in Hawai'i are going to be very, very favorable for probably the rest of the decade."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.