• Many job openings go unfilled Many job openings go unfilled A decade ago, Kaua‘i faced perhaps its most serious unemployment crisis since the years prior to the outbreak of World War II. Today, we are facing a problem on
• Many job openings go unfilled
Many job openings go unfilled
A decade ago, Kaua‘i faced perhaps its most serious unemployment crisis since the years prior to the outbreak of World War II.
Today, we are facing a problem on the other side of the coin — a lack of enough qualified and willing workers to fill available jobs.
Across the state, county-government personnel officials are having trouble finding workers, though Kaua‘i is apparently not getting hit as hard as the Big Island and Maui.
Jobs in construction and other fields that out-pay government jobs are drawing the workers.
Here on Kaua‘i, we see the number of help-wanted ads expanding, with good-paying jobs being listed, not just ones that most workers won’t take.
Reports of contractors and retailers not being able to hold onto workers are also coming in.
While this is a good thing for those seeking employment on Kaua‘i, it also reflects a bad thing — a very high cost of living and lack of affordable housing.
Without reasonable rents, or mortgage payments, we’re going to lack even more workers as our economy continues to grow with the arrival of well-to-do home-buyers who are fueling our service and retail sectors.
The overall economy would benefit more people if there were affordable homes to buy, and more moderate rentals out there.
As it is now, many workers are moving between two and three jobs, yet barely making it, definitely not flourishing on the windfall of plenty of work. The extra money they are making is going to high taxes and high prices for food, rent, gas, and other essentials. Some call this the “price of paradise,” or the “paradise tax.”
Others more and more are seeing it as a dead end and leaving. Unfortunately, this means sons and daughters of Kaua‘i heading out to Las Vegas and other cities where workers can afford to buy a home, often by working just one job.
