Building on HWFC’s 2025 report, From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawaiʻi’s Workforce Resilience, this report reviews progress made to date and introduces the Hawaiʻi Generational Workforce Commitment — a cross-sector shared goal that by 2045, all people of Hawaiʻi will have a path to a career that enables them to learn, work, and thrive in Hawaiʻi and contribute to a vibrant economy grounded in community values. To support immediate action, the report also offers policy recommendations, systemic enablers, immediate next steps by sector, and a five-year roadmap to build towards collective commitments that will set the foundation for Hawaiʻi move to achieve this generational goal.

Holomua Collective’s 2025 findings paint a stark picture of a worsening cost-of-living crisis in the state, with more respondents living paycheck to paycheck and spending unsustainable portions of their household income on essentials like housing and transportation.

From the report:

Of the 170,000 youth entering Hawaiʻi’s workforce over the next decade, nearly 30% will face a lack of viable opportunities to build a sustainable future here. The consequences of inaction are clear: continued loss of local talent, stagnant economic growth, and an inability to meet the evolving needs of Hawaiʻi’s communities.