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Hawaii governments are flush with pandemic cash and are hoping to fill open positions as well as create new ones.

During his State of the City speech this week, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi laid out the opportunities and challenges for Honolulu. According to the mayor, there are more than 3,000 job openings in city government. And that doesn’t include the 80 new positions he plans to add to the Planning and Permitting Department.

Filling vacancies quickly requires overhauling ineffective hiring processes, the mayor said. Getting more workers is critical, he said—Honolulu would have a workforce of about 13,000 if all the positions were filled.

“The number of people who could do the work in many areas is just not there,” he said.

Honolulu is not alone. There are about 2,000 vacancies in the Hawaii state executive branch, said Ryker Wada, director of the Department of Human Resource Development. That doesn’t include departments outside the DHRD’s purview, including the University of Hawaii system and the 22,000-employee Department of Education, which is chronically short of teachers.

But politicians are trying to change this. Full of cash as Hawaii recovers from the worst days of the Covid-19 crisis, state officials are offering money to boost hiring, not just to fill current vacancies but to create even more jobs.

One of the bills being considered would pay for nearly 50 additional workers in the Human Services office of the Department of Human Services. Another bill would give the University of Hawaii system money to increase the number of nursing school faculty, which supporters say could ease the state’s nursing shortage.

Economists say there is no secret formula for hiring workers, even for tough jobs like teaching.

Also, Hawaii’s high cost of living may discourage people from moving here for work, but its beaches, climate and natural beauty attract others.

It’s not just about the money

While money may be most important, the reality of hiring in Hawaii is more complex.

Even before the pandemic, when the unemployment rate was near zero, the state was losing population.

And the state’s labor pool has gotten smaller during COVID 19. Hawaii’s civilian workforce was about 673,700 as of January, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. That was an improvement from the darkest days of the pandemic, when Hawaii’s labor force fell to 622,200 in October 2020.

But that’s a far cry from the spring of 2017, when the labor force peaked at just under 700,000. A recent study by WalletHub found that Hawaii had the fifth-highest layoff rate in the country over the past 12 months, with 3.41% of workers announcing a layoff.

Recruiting and retaining workers is challenging enough that Movers and Shakas, a nonprofit that got its start during the pandemic bringing groups of workers to Hawaii to temporarily work remotely, created the Hawaii Talent Onboarding Program, or HITOP, to orient new hires and their partners to work for Hawaii culturally and socially. The program is intended for beginners. The goal is to reduce the need to constantly hire new employees while helping existing professionals integrate into the community.

Government employers face additional challenges. WADA noted that government departments have to deal with government funding that can fluctuate, unions and collective bargaining agreements, and a merit-based civil service system that limit flexibility.

For example, he said, there are typically four levels of office assistant positions: I-IV. Although an agency may be able to obtain funding for a preferred IV Office Assistant, the position may require skills and experience that few applicants possess. A private employer can hire a less-skilled worker and pay less while the worker receives on-the-job training, but public employers typically don’t have that option, Wada said.

Another problem is that, due to the state’s cumbersome hiring process, good candidates often find other jobs before state hiring managers get their hands on them. The state has created what it calls Wikiwiki Hire , which allows departments to connect with candidates and quickly begin the hiring process. This system receives support from the agencies that need to manage it. For now, this is limited to the Child Protective Services office of the Department of Human Services, as well as engineering and surveying work in the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation. In some cases, it is necessary to speed up not only the hiring process, but also the training.

In Hawaii, the number of officers eligible for retirement is peaking while work in state correctional facilities has become more dangerous than usual as Covid-19 has spread among staff and inmates.

To fill vacancies left by departing corrections officers, the department must increase hiring and provide more training cycles for new officers. 

Honolulu has big plans

The challenge is finding innovative ways for Honolulu residents to meet the city’s changing needs, many of the thousands of openings are in departments that handle things like roads, building maintenance and waste management, as well as the Honolulu Police Department.

Honolulu officials have identified ways to “help departments hire faster and increase hiring rates.” Increased tax revenue means Honolulu can fund internships to fill key tech positions. However, some departments, such as the Department of Planning and Permitting, are more complex. They require an organization-wide assessment and strategic changes in positions to meet current needs.

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