It’s almost unheard of to think of low unemployment as being a problem, but for employers looking for help it is posing a challenge. With the unemployment rate for March at 2.6 percent, Kaua‘i employers are struggling to find qualified
It’s almost unheard of to think of low unemployment as being a problem, but for employers looking for help it is posing a challenge.
With the unemployment rate for March at 2.6 percent, Kaua‘i employers are struggling to find qualified employees.
Creative employee recruitment, collaborative efforts, and Kaua‘i’s annual job fair hope to help address this issue.
“Employees are having a tough time filling vacancies,” said Beth Tokioka, director of the Kaua‘i Office of Economic Development.
“Low unemployment is a good problem to have, but we’re going to have to get real creative,” she said.
Tokioka said officials in the Workforce Development Division of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations have close to 500 job openings listed now, in comparison to 70 or 80 a short time ago.
Laura Cushnie, Kaua‘i manager for Goodfellow Brothers Inc., a construction company, said so far the labor shortage had not impacted her company, at least not yet.
“We will be experiencing it soon, with all the upcoming construction work. We’re doing fine now, but there will be a surge.”
Cushnie said the company will need heavy-equipment operators. Members of the Kauai Workforce Investment Board (KWIB), a volunteer group representing a cross-section of Kaua‘i’s businesses and nonprofits, identified retired persons, high-school students and graduating seniors, and persons with special needs who are not currently employed or are underemployed, as populations the KWIB could tap into and train, if necessary, to link up with potential employers.
According to statistics compiled on behalf of KWIB by the Hawaii Outcomes Institute, Health Hawaii 2010, just one in 10 Kaua‘i youths between the ages of 16 and 19 is not in the workforce.
Sixty-one percent of graduating seniors on Kaua‘i will not seek higher education, and will enter the workforce with limited skills.
According to statistics compiled by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, none of Kaua‘i’s top 10 job categories pay a living wage.
The fifth annual Kauai Job Fair, scheduled for Saturday is also geared toward providing employment information and opportunities. The free event will be held at Kukui Grove Center from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.
Presented by members of the Kauai Job Service Employer Committee (JSEC) and sponsored by members of KWIB, the job fair is normally held in August, but organizers changed the date so graduating high-school and college students can get a jumpstart on securing employment.
More than 50 employers will be on hand, including representatives of a number of large resorts, retailers, the Kaua‘i Police Department, various state offices, and others, according to Tokioka.
There will also be a resource room equipped with computers for job seekers to use, with access to the Hawaii Job Bank.
- Andy Gross, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or agross@pulitzer.net.
