The rate of unemployment in Hawaii continues to soar reaching 22% in April according to the state’s labor department, which is nearly 140,000 people out of work, but despite the historic levels of people out of work, a staffing company said they are slowly starting to see more job openings.
It is no surprise jobs in the healthcare and medical fields continue to grow under a public health emergency, but Staffing Solutions of Hawaii, a job recruiter agency said there are other positions to consider.
The company’s marketing and public relations specialist, Veronica Lainez, said they had a surplus of job openings earlier in the year when the unemployment rate was 2.7%.
Lainez said, “We had an abundance of positions available and yet not a lot of local talent to fill those positions.”
Recently, they have seen an increase in applicants with not enough job positions available for all of them. Lainez said they are slowly beginning to see more employers requesting applicants.
Lainez said, “We have over 150 available positions and that’s across various industries in administrative professional positions, as far as Kahu Malama Nurses we have over 75 positions, and that’s for travel nurses.”
The state’s biggest employer, the tourism industry, remains closed.
The researchers from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization found 83% of full-time hotel employees have lost their jobs.
Employment in retail had the second-biggest losses, but that industry is just starting to reopen.
In the meantime, job recruiters are encouraging those looking for work to go digital and consider fields in information technology or health and wellness.
Lainez said, “We have seen that increase of homecare requests, as well as now that hospitals are reopening elective surgeries we also see an increase with registered nurses, CNAs, nurse assistants to assist in that reopening.”
Lainez said their applications and interviews are all done online, job seekers are able to go through the hiring process safely from home.
