CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu Gas Co. workers Clinton Maeshiro, left,
and Eddy Laforga worked on a gas main yesterday
on Waialae Avenue. As union members, they fare
better than other blue-collar workers.

WAGES IN HAWAII

Pilots flying high
in Honolulu
wage survey

The labor study says union
workers have a leg up on
their nonunion equivalents

---

By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Oahu blue-collar workers in union jobs make more money than their nonunion counterparts. Nurses make more than civil engineers. And unsurprisingly to many in the service industries, junior waiters and waitresses, bellhops and porters are at the low end of the local hourly earnings scale before tips.

Those are some of the findings of a federal government survey that looked at hourly earnings in February this year. Also to no surprise, the biggest money goes to the best-recognized professionals. Airline pilots and navigators topped the list, with a mean salary of $81.10 an hour. The mean salary indicates half the workers make more, while half make less. The mean salary for managers in the medicine and health field was $45.74 an hour.

The mean wage for unionized blue-collar workers was $17.38 an hour while their nonunion equivalents made $12.98.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Reece Saai and Hisae Vares folded napkins yesterday
at Wasabi Bistro in Kapahulu after the lunch crowd left.

Executive, managerial and administrative workers did better in the private sector, making $28.30 an hour compared with their state and local government colleagues, who made $21.38 an hour.

Comparisons in the study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, are difficult because there is often no information directly comparing a government job to a private-sector job, and the earnings are basic hourly wages, not counting overtime, perks and, of course, tips.

In general, the new study shows that white-collar workers earn more than blue-collar workers in Honolulu. In the office and professional field, the mean hourly wage for February was $20.36 an hour, and 52 percent of workers were in that category. The mean wage for blue-collar workers was $15.76 an hour, and they make up 16 percent of the work force.

There may be wide variations within each category, but the study confirms what is generally known: The service workers who keep the islands ticking are often at the low end of the scale. Your favorite server in a restaurant or bar was making, without tips, $5.60 an hour in February.

That's just a little above the current Hawaii minimum wage of $5.25 an hour, the state minimum since January 1993. That minimum, still above the federal minimum of $5.15 an hour (since 1997), nevertheless can be reduced if service personnel are receiving tips.

Some of the other mean wages in the white-collar sector were $26.97 an hour for registered nurses, $22.26 for civil engineers, $15.66 for secretaries and $13.59 for hotel clerks. At those rates, some might find it more satisfying to get physical.

In the blue-collar world, heavy-equipment mechanics were making $27.92 an hour, construction laborers were at $18.91 an hour, truck drivers got $12.28 an hour, and groundskeepers and gardeners, $10.68 an hour.

Overall, the mean wage for all Honolulu workers was $16.50 an hour.

The government says it plans to use the new "National Compensation Survey" to develop a data program in coming years to help employers understand the national picture.

It will also help unions in their contract negotiations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

What we earn Some examples of mean hourly wages for Honolulu workers: Engineer $23.78 Professor $43.62 Registered nurse $26.79 Social worker $20.65 Financial manager $30.83 Accountant $19.54 Cashier $7.89 Hotel clerk $13.59 Office clerk $11.48 Truck driver $12.28 Groundskeeper $10.68 Nursing aide $11.41 Maid $11.28 Bellhop $5.51 Teacher's assistant $10.42 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics