Islander Institute Shares a vision for “A Good Job in Hawaiʻi”
Listening to the voices of Hawaiʻi's workers and understanding their needs is crucial for building a thriving workforce in the state. The Hawaiʻi Workforce Funders Collaborative (HWFC) facilitates collaboration among stakeholders to develop effective solutions. Over the past six months, HWFC partnered with the Islander Institute to explore what constitutes a "good job" in Hawaiʻi. Their insights, gathered through community discussions, are compiled in a report titled "A Good Job in Hawaiʻi," set to be released later this month. The article below - the first in a series of pieces that will highlight different narratives from this work - was taken from a conversation we had with Islander Institute last month to give them the opportunity to describe in their own words why this is a critical time for this work in Hawaiʻi.
The collaborators that make up Islander Institute have worked at the intersection of policy, community development, systemic change, and local values for twenty years. Lending capacity to projects across community health, education, economic development, ʻāina initiatives, food systems, renewable energy, and workforce development, they elevate community voice to develop solutions consistent with local values and a vision of Hawaiʻi that includes us all. Through relationship building and cultivating connections, Islander Institute supports communities in building power, influence, and control over their futures by bringing their voices into government, economic, and organizational decision-making.
Broken Narratives
In sitting with Andrew Aoki and Laurie Au of Islander Institute, one of the key starting points for creating the “A Good Job in Hawaiʻi” framework was identifying and addressing the underlying narratives that currently frame the workforce development conversation.
“Starting with school, we are conditioned to think of work as a contest where you accumulate education and skills to compete with others to get a job, and from there the goal is to keep leveling up in pay and status by playing by the rules and working hard. There’s pressure to make it on your own,” says Andrew Aoki of Islander Institute.
Along with the narrative that education and hard work leads to landing a good job, there is a complementary narrative that if you have a ‘junk job’ it’s your own fault. “We’ve created this elitist system where, whether one reacts with charity or spite, it’s easy to look at folks in ‘junk jobs’ or the unemployed as losers, and those with power and privilege as winners,” says Aoki. “But it seems like most people don’t really want to play the game.”
Difficult Realities
In reality, 70% of jobs in the economy don’t even require a degree or specialized skills, and many of these jobs’ pay don’t match the cost of living in Hawaiʻi. “There are plenty of people here who are employed, aren’t making enough, and yet somehow manage to get by. They rely on government benefits, community based organizations, friends and family. Yes, they ought to have a living wage, but that’s how much they want to be here,” says Aoki.
“The old narrative of keeping your head down and putting your time in doesn’t match the reality that younger generations face. The economy and world are different now. New technology, climate change, and new workplace cultures create a massively different context. Working hard and advancing incrementally doesn’t work anymore. The first step on that path doesn’t pay enough to even live here,” says Au.
“A job can really be a great thing and it should be. It doesn’t have to be your whole identity, but it can provide dignity, connection, and an opportunity to contribute. That’s powerful.”
Centering community voices
“When we met with folks to learn what a good job means to them, we were not there to teach people about issues. Our approach is to meet people where they are physically, mentally, emotionally, and culturally to learn what they already think and do by listening carefully in spaces where people can trust that their opinion matters,” says Aoki. By partnering with community organizations*, Islander Institute connected with members of marginalized and vulnerable communities, many of whom are the targets of workforce development initiatives.
“We spoke with a mix of generations, geographies, and ethnicities - high schoolers, immigrants, formerly incarcerated individuals, and more. The conversation about workforce development has historically been dominated by employers, though with the shifting labor market, workers are getting a little more say about what a good job is,” says Laurie Au.
Pay matters, but it’s not what makes a good job
“If you’re living in Hawaiʻi, you’re not here to get rich. The cost of living is high, and jobs are not particularly lucrative. So you're sacrificing pay for something else - connection to place, family, wellbeing,” says Au. Aoki and Au emphasized that while money is important - people need to earn enough to live here - the quality of a job is about so much more than money. It’s about quality of life, and who gets to live in Hawaiʻi. In their community conversations, three main goals consistently emerged:
To be home in Hawaiʻi - A job that allows you to live where you have or want your roots to be - a job that allows you to live in Hawaiʻi. “Economic refugees are moving to the mainland not to pursue opportunity, but because they feel forced to move. A good job would be one that lets them stay in Hawaiʻi. There are more Native Hawaiians living outside of Hawaiʻi than here. It’s tragic,” says Aoki.
To make a contribution - A job that makes people feel like they’re doing something meaningful, supporting family, helping the community, making Hawaiʻi a better place. “When asked for an example of a good job and a junk job, people described lots of junk jobs as being a cog in the machine, working for the man, doing things that didn’t serve a purpose or help anybody. Helping people, and being on a team, and just making someone’s day means a lot,” says Aoki.
To have good health - A job that supports personal health and wellbeing, including a positive self-concept. “People want to have self-worth, confidence, a sense of value, learning, and growth. They want the time to be connected to family and friends, and the resources to eat decent food and care for themselves and their loved ones,” says Aoki.
what a job can be
A good job contributes to a business and the economy, but it is also a vehicle that keeps the people who love and want to stay in Hawaiʻi here. “Workers are more than labor in the free market. We want to keep the people who are from here and want to live here because that is what makes Hawaiʻi what it is. We need to help them stay by creating jobs that are worth staying for from their perspective. Workforce development can’t just be about subsidizing labor acquisition,” says Aoki. Given what people say they want, employers can start thinking about how to make jobs better beyond pay and benefits. Family leave, remote work, shorter work weeks, non-standard benefits (e.g. housing and food subsidies) could all address the core of what workers value.
“The first question we asked in every interview was ʻWhen you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?’” says Aoki. “We asked because a job can really be a great thing and it should be. It doesn’t have to be your whole identity, but it can provide dignity, connection, and an opportunity to contribute. That’s powerful.”
*Mahalo nui to the organizations that contributed to the "A Good Job in Hawaiʻi" framework: Vibrant Hawaiʻi (Hawaiʻi Island), The Men of Paʻa (Hawaiʻi Island), Hui No Ke Ola Pono (Maui), Kauaʻi Economic Development Board (Kauaʻi), KEY Project (Oʻahu), We Are Oceania (Oʻahu)