Spend a year or more taking classes at the University of Hawaii Maui College and you will almost certainly get to know a number of bright, young, ambitious locals and wonder what great changes they will bring to our county.

But then, a couple of years later reengaging with them, you may find that most have either dropped out of higher education or moved to the mainland to continue their education and find a job. We could have used their smarts and their energy for so many things here in Maui County and in the state.

Is this a new phenomenon? No.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s March 24-26, 1999, “Brain Drain” series elicited hundreds of responses from all over the world, mostly from those who had felt compelled to leave.

Is it because of the high cost of living in Hawaii? That certainly plays a role, but it is not the main factor in most young people’s decision to move. Instead, it is the lack of jobs that appeal to the younger generations, especially those that are more educated, judging by the series.

A 2021 study by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism of the demographics of Hawaii explores emigration and immigration and provides extensive information on levels of education, age distribution, professions and salary levels for Hawaii-born residents of Hawaii, Hawaii-born emigrants to the U.S. and immigrants from the U.S. to Hawaii, using American Community Survey data.

It found that “almost 15% of Hawaii-born people living on the mainland are between the ages of 18 and 44 and have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 7.7% of those remaining in Hawaii … there are more Hawaii-born people with a bachelor’s degree or higher living on the mainland than there are who stayed in the state … over half of those who earn a bachelor’s degree or higher move to the mainland (51.4% to 54.5% for bachelor’s degree earners, 59.2% to 62.8% for graduate degree earners), whereas around 40% of those born in Hawaii who have a high school degree or less move to the mainland.”

The study noted, “Among younger adults, over 55% of Hawaii-born people with a bachelor’s degree move away, a percentage surpassed by the 60% of those earning a master’s degree or higher.”

In other words, young people are more likely to leave if they have higher education.

Perhaps young people are fleeing unemployment in Hawaii?

No, the study found, noting that with a low unemployment rate during the period of analysis, “people born in Hawaii who stay in Hawaii have a higher labor force participation rate and a lower unemployment rate, and are more likely to work full time than their counterparts who move to the mainland.”

Surely, then, there are large pay gaps inducing emigration?

“Median personal income and median hourly wage are comparable between Hawaii-born stayers and leavers (leavers earn about $2,000 to $5,000 more per year), though more-educated Hawaii-born leavers make more money at the higher end of the income/wage distribution (about $15,000 more).”

There are differences in take-home pay, but differences in earnings “seem to be largely compositional; taking into account age, gender, race, education, and occupation, differences in personal income and hourly wage are much smaller, and not statistically significant. This suggests that it is not higher wages, per se, that are encouraging people to move to the mainland, but the types of jobs available on the mainland instead.”

Another big difference between households in Hawaii and those in the U.S. (on average): “Household income is much higher for people born and living in Hawaii, likely due to household composition making up for the much higher housing costs in Hawaii compared to the mainland. In fact, household income relative to housing cost is higher for Hawaii-born stayers than for those who move to the mainland. In other words, it appears that the advantage to moving to the mainland for cheaper housing is only for those who are set on avoiding multigenerational households.”

So why do people leave Hawaii if it is not because they are unemployed, paid less or struggling with the cost of housing for the household?

The study summarizes: “A majority of responses noted moving for a new job or job transfer as the reason for moving. Over 13% of movers moved for housing reasons, but ‘cheaper housing’ was not a common response, even for those between the ages of 18-34 (though it had the fourth most responses).” Instead, “the types of jobs that are available on the mainland are drawing Hawaii-borns away from Hawaii.”
For example, “[for] those earning STEM or NSF-defined science and engineering degrees, a higher percentage of Hawaii-borns living on the mainland are in STEM or science and engineering occupations, compared to Hawaii-borns who stay in Hawaii.”

If the lack of appealing jobs — not just jobs in general — is the main reason young people are leaving Hawaii, what can be done?

An editorial published by the College of Engineering at the University of Hawaii Manoa in 2019 suggested that “Hawaii ranks among the top states in investment in education, but at the bottom in investment in research and development. We tell our children to study sciences and the arts to find jobs that allow them to create and invent. Those jobs do exist, but they are not in Hawaii.” We need those jobs in Hawaii.
Here are some ideas:

• summer internships at UH for Hawaii students who have left;
• programs at UH that provide graduates with skills to work in Hawaii remotely for tech companies and also to launch companies of their own;
• collaborations between Hawaii universities and mainland and other universities to allow deeper and wider training training programs;
• collaborations between Hawaii’s universities and tech companies both inside and outside the state to provide a pipeline of local and remote employment opportunities;
• investment in research so that UH graduates can continue their careers in Hawaii and channel the results into entrepreneurship and new businesses;
• identification of fields where local competence can be developed to obviate the need for contracts with companies outside of Hawaii;
• regular job fairs at the universities to expose students to employment opportunities and career paths;
• requiring state and county governments to prefer local companies for contracts; and
• making it more financially feasible for local students to get a UH degree.

To read more about Hawaii’s brain drain, click here.