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Isle job outlook This spring's crop of college graduates in Hawaii are seeing fewer employment recruiters on campus and are facing a job market pummeled by the post-Sept. 11 economic downturn.
is bleak for grads
A faltering economy leaves few
options for students on the
verge of receiving degreesBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comGraduates will be competing in a market that has seen roughly 75,000 people file initial unemployment insurance claims since the terrorist attacks.
At the University of Hawaii's annual spring job fair earlier this month, prospective employers were down by a third -- 50, compared with about 75 last year, according to Pat Nishimoto, interim director of Career Services.
In addition, she said that there was little variety among the employers, who primarily represented insurance companies and government agencies.
"Maybe just one hotel came," she said. "A couple of aerospace companies from the mainland."
Noting that the economy had been faltering even before Sept. 11, Nishimoto said the career center has received fewer job notices in recent months.
"It is a very cautious thing for employers to come out and say they have openings," she said.
When Kevin Nishida graduated with a degree in communications in 1997, finding a job was a lot harder than he had expected it to be.
Soon he found himself back at the UH College of Business Administration, and he is now a semester away from completing a second degree in management information systems.
"I thought it would be easier this time around because I'd be more useful to companies," he said.
A few years ago, that degree could have brought in competing offers of high five-figure entry-level salary and perks. But with the downfall of many dot-com and technology companies and a nationwide recession, that scenario is less likely now.
Nishida, 28, who maintains the computer systems for a property management company, holds little hope of finding a well-paying job by the time he finishes his degree in December. "I think (the economy) will recover, but not by the end of the year."
Leroy Laney, Hawaii Pacific University professor of economics and finance, concurs. He said the mainland may already be out of the recession, but "in Hawaii it's going to be a little tougher because we lag behind the mainland."
In addition, while mainland and Japanese tourism has picked up, it is still not up to pre-Sept. 11 levels, let alone peak 2000 levels.
"Anything related to tourism is rather weak now," Laney said.
He said it might be the end of 2003 before the local economy recovers fully.
Consequently, for typical recent graduates, "the odds are it would be a little tougher this year than other years" to find a job, Laney said.
As it dawns on students that the jobs might not be there when they graduate, Nishimoto said, "We're finding that students are looking into their job search opportunities earlier, rather than waiting for their last semester.
"They're being more opportunistic and enterprising because they realize it's so tough and tight and competitive."
Business major Nozomi Kimura, 23, of Japan wants to spend the summer in Hawaii but does not know if she can find an internship. "There's less jobs available here," she said.
She has no plans to try her luck in the Hawaii job market once she graduates this fall. "I'm going back to Japan," she said, adding that she thinks there are more jobs there.
Other students are planning to go straight into professional school.
Jeff Willard, 29, plans to attend law school after he graduates with a degree in political science next year.
But with plans to practice human rights law, Willard places little importance in finding a steady job after graduation.
"Money, job security, I don't really care about any of that," he said. "Somebody's got to do something about the current situation."