FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Student Chris Chang, right, talks with Patricia Nishimoto, interim director of career services at the University of Hawaii. Chang, who will graduate with an accounting degree, has been working in campus jobs to gain experience. He also says he'll pursue additional education to gain his CPA after he graduates.
Scarcity of skills
To get the job you want,
you better be prepared
Lana Luke's job is to find work for others. But lately, she finds, it's harder to find qualified applicants.
Even jobs requiring basic skills are becoming hard to fill, said Luke, senior personnel manager at Altres Staffing. "We have people who call in for availability but we just can't use them."
"The single biggest issue is finding qualified people," said Luke. The company places employees across a variety of areas, including professional and technical positions as well as office staff and warehouse jobs. Lately there are shortages in all areas.
Luke surmises some of the pool she would normally draw on, especially younger people, moved to the mainland in the past 10 years after becoming discouraged with a stagnant local job market.
The company also relied on military dependents for jobs in its clerical division, but there are fewer to choose from now.
"We used to depend a lot on military dependents as far as our need for clerical. That has been a large sector where we found our good qualified staff," Luke said. "Now the dependents are more likely to go home if the husband gets deployed, especially since Sept. 11."
Yet Hawaii has a low unemployment rate compared with national numbers. Normally, that would be good economic news. On the face of those numbers it would that seem that a large majority of us are gainfully employed. However, economists point out that the low unemployment rate is not because the economy is creating jobs, but because the civilian labor force is growing almost as slowly as the number of jobs.
Hawaii does not have enough skilled workers, and it will need to adopt bold strategies if it wants to meet the demand for new jobs in a diversified economy, say some observers who see a crisis looming.
A recent report by the Hawaii Workforce Development Council, a public-private partnership that makes recommendations to the state Legislature and governor on work force development, provides an estimation of future job prospects.
The projections are not encouraging.
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of jobs statewide is projected to grow by 68,230 -- or 1.2 percent over 10 years -- according the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
While a modest growth in jobs is better than no growth or decline, few new jobs and shortages of skilled workers, already a problem, will become greater as time progresses, the report says.
In the short term, Enterprise Honolulu's Mike Fitzgerald says he's optimistic about the state's immediate job prospects.
"I see modest growth looking out over the next six months," said Fitzgerald, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit economic development organization. "It's a confidence factor that's important. That means employers are more likely to hire, or at least not to let workers go."
But the future becomes far more fuzzy the farther ahead you try to look and that's the worrying part, Fitzgerald said.
"A three- to six-month period has gotten to be a long time in our world so while companies still plan long-term, they have to be prepared to alter their plans. Long-term used to be three to five years, now it's considered around one to three years," he said.
Job prospects look bright for certain areas of employment, particularly computer-related jobs and areas where there are existing shortages, such as health care and education. But Hawaii needs skilled workers in a variety of areas and the need is imminent.
Likewise, areas related to the current real estate boom, such as construction and home sales, offer promise. But like tourism, those industries are cyclical and are highly susceptible to outside forces.
An aging work force will be an even more serious issue for Hawaii than other states, the report found. One of the most important factors for any business and -- more importantly -- for new business investment, is the ability to recruit skilled workers.
When experienced baby boomers begin to leave the work force en masse, the younger labor force will lack the numbers to replace what is being lost. As a result, the report suggests that workers will need to acquire career skills at an earlier age.
But right now, employers report a growing pool of workers with limited skills. With the emphasis on economic diversification and technology, little attention is being paid to workers who need to either strengthen their skills or build new ones, they say.
If a growing number of people cannot move beyond entry level positions, there is no room for the next group of new workers to move in, Fitzgerald said.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Though he has yet to graduate, University of Hawaii student Chris Chang has been accumulating experience.
Those same entry-level jobs have previously enabled many workers to get a foothold in the market and advance up to better-paying jobs.
One answer to the shortage of skills is to place more emphasis and resources into training programs for those already in the work force, said Fitzgerald.
"In the short term we need to re-direct work force training programs to help employers retrain workers and upgrade skills to move people up from the bottom and let in the new group with no skills," he said.
But there are some bright spots.
According to career counselors, today's college students are more realistic and practical about their career options and the job market than ever before. They are more likely to focus their studies in areas that will result in a career where there is demand.
"What we are seeing is that they are planning earlier," said Patricia Nishimoto, who heads the Career Services Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"We used to see more students when they were seniors, usually in the short period before they graduate. Now we are seeing underclassmen," she said.
Attitudes towards work have also changed, Nishimoto said.
Students are now less likely to see their first job as a short-term prospect. The idea of staying a year or two before moving on to a better job is less prevalent, Nishimoto said.
"Perhaps they are seeing jobs as more precious than before and are more willing to settle for what they are offered," she said.
For Maui native Chris Chang, 20, the decision was to pursue a degree in accounting. No matter where he ends up working, he figures accounting is a good skill to have.
"You can do so much with an accounting degree, and I like numbers," he said.
Still, he wonders about what he will find when he enters the work force.
"I've been hearing stories about people working for $12 an hour and they have a degree in accounting or finance," he said.
With stiff competition for good jobs, he realizes anything extra he can do to make himself stand out will help. He's working on campus for the national student exchange program to gain experience.
"My campus job helps me learn a lot about the working environment, having a boss, being responsible and especially the importance of good communication skills," he said.
He's also prepared to purse additional education. "I'll definitely go for a CPA," he said.
Chang says much of the discussion among his friends revolves around what they are going to do and what the work prospects are.
"I have a few friends who are already set on what they are going to do. Some are just concentrating on getting a degree and there are a few looking at graduate school because it opens up more potential and can give you an advantage," he said.
Despite some concerns, Chang said he's optimistic. "I'm pretty hopeful. If not there's always something else you can do."
Things have not been so easy for Matthew Ware, who graduated from UH in 2002 with a degree in Pacific Island studies. Ware started off as a business student at a college in Colorado before moving to Hawaii in 1998.
Taken with local culture and history, Ware changed his major, thinking there would be opportunities to use what he learned in travel industry management and hospitality. He also took a number of classes in that area, but the jobs have not materialized.
"I'm having difficulties using the degree. I had thought it would help me, especially living here," he said.
With no good prospects, Ware took a job managing the office of a local trading company.
But long hours and little pay recently led him back to one of his college jobs -- parking cars and managing various sites for a valet company.
"Now I'm pretty much just trying to pay bills and put food on the table," he said.
He's thinking about what he should do next, and says he will likely pursue a master's degree in education if no opportunities present themselves.
"There's a big shortage of teachers so that's the reason for choosing that field," he said.
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