Posted on: Sunday, September 28, 2003

Good times, big salaries

By Deborah Adamson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Let's admit it. We all react with a combination of curiosity and envy when we learn about the platinum salaries paid to high-profile figures like University of Hawai'i coach June Jones and President Evan Dobelle.

Yet six-figure salaries are not all that uncommon in Hawai'i. Recruiters say they are placing more and more candidates in jobs paying $100,000 plus. And while census figures show a decline in six-figure jobs in 2002, an improving local economy and a move to Mainland-level pay scales are placing upward pressure on salaries for sought-after executives and employees.

Although men still dominate the high-salary jobs, women in particular have benefited from the salary inflation, helped by their lengthening experience in the workforce, the retirements of male executives and economic expansion.

Kathy Newkirk, for one, hasn't always paid herself a decent salary as president of a medical employment agency. But a growing need for nurses has boosted revenues by 30 percent this year and propelled the head of Kahu Malama Nurses Inc. in Honolulu into the six-figure salary club.

"We are enjoying a lot of growth this year," she said. "I would certainly be part of that group" making more than $100,000 a year, as are speciality nurses and others with in- demand medical-related skills.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures, 15,523 people in Hawai'i earned $100,000 or more in 2002. That is down 13 percent from 2000, but the decline may be the result of the post-Sept. 11 recession which Hawai'i has largely shaken off.

In some cases, salaries are bumped up when a new top executive who is accustomed to higher Mainland salaries moves in and restructures salary levels.

Public furor focused on Dobelle's $442,000 salary when he was hired, but a less-noticed shift has taken place among his administrators: At least 50 have jumped from earning five-figure pay to receiving $100,000 or higher.

Over a decade, their wage gains ranged from a high of 73.6 percent to $254,000 for dean of the law school, to a low of 16 percent to $104,112 for the dean of the College of Natural Sciences, according to the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly, the faculty union.

Dobelle has said the university has to pay competitive salaries to attract the best talent. In addition, he argued that the number of administrators has shrunk from two years ago.

High demand skills key

In contrast to the administrators' pay, the average Hawai'i salary rose by 17.7 percent to $31,241 from 1993 to 2001, the latest year for which annual figures were available from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Bank of Hawaii also added more six-figure jobs after CEO Michael O'Neill took over the reins of the state's largest bank in November 2000.

"We responded to the changing demands and needs of the business," said Neal Hocklander, vice chairman of human resources and security. In some cases, "we had to seek out individuals with certain skill sets, experience and knowledge that was necessary to accomplish our objectives."

High-quality employees with specialized skills can command significant wages, whether they are kama'aina or Mainland recruits, he said. Examples of such jobs are senior-level positions in technology, finance and credit.

However, a spokeswoman added that despite the bank's past hiring, the bank isn't necessarily picking up employees for high-paying jobs now.

Top-level workers in demand

As for the state as a whole, there are increasing signs that the job picture is improving.

Some local recruiters see an uptick in selected high-paying jobs, especially in hot industries like construction and finance. They also noted that federal contracts have yielded more $100,000 jobs of late.

Jim Ellis, president of Executive Search World in Honolulu, said managerial construction jobs that pay in the six-figure range have risen as the building boom re-ignited the industry.

These positions include director of operations, senior project managers and jobs at the level of vice president or higher.

"We're seeing more high-level jobs in construction," he said. "Our placements are up 40 to 45 percent. in the last two years."James Morse, an executive recruiter at Sales Consultants and Management Recruiters, also is seeing more $100,000-plus jobs.

Morse said higher salaries could be partly attributed to Mainland firms expanding in the state. They are hiring not only rank and file, but also managers and senior executives.

A decade ago, 600 of the 3,000 companies in Hawai'i that Morse tracks were national firms. Today, 1,800 are national and 1,200 are local.

"They're changing the landscape of things," Morse said. "We're changing from a local economy to a national economy."

Federal government contracts also are a source of higher-paying jobs, said Beverly Marica, president of Adecco and Adecco Technical of Hawai'i, an employment agency.

She said several IT positions such as network administrator, database analyst and programmer jobs can pay more than $100,000.

One major contract project under way is the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, which needs tech experts who can build computer infrastructure. The contract began three years ago and still has four more years to go.

"That's provided the best opportunity for local people," Marica said.

More women in ranks

Last year's decline in six-figure jobs came largely among men, whose ranks in the $100,000-plus category fell by 21 percent to 12,165. Meanwhile, the number of women with six-figure earning power rose by 35 percent to 3,358.

As top-earning men take buyout packages or retire early, women have been ascending into executive ranks, recruiters say.

Morse's employment firm has placed 10 percent more women into executive positions now than in 2001.

While these clustered in the medical management field, or the jobs clustered around sales or marketing, women have been increasingly penetrating traditional male-dominated areas such as engineering and insurance.

Executive Search World's Ellis also has recruited more women for upper-tier jobs lately.

He recently placed a female client into a $130,000 senior vice president job at a local insurance firm.

"There are a lot more higher-compensated women now," he said. "It's becoming quite common."

Ellis is thrilled about the trend, since he admits to having a soft spot for career-climbing women.

"Even if I'm working for male-chauvinist companies, I'll still present a woman," he said.

While the number of top earners may have fallen last year, there's no doubt that Hawai'i's top earners are better off today than they were in the mid-1990s, said Paul Brewbaker, chief economist at Bank of Hawaii.

Their improved status is the result of several factors, he said. The addition of certain six-figure jobs into the economy helped, but so has the declining cost of products and services because of technological improvements and the arrival of Mainland discounters.

"The net impact is a bigger bottom line," Brewbaker said.

Reach Deborah Adamson at dadamson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8088.