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House committee backs statewide workforce strategy to boost living-wage jobs
Summary
The committee passed HCR 100/HR 92 urging a unified statewide workforce strategy; testimony emphasized a projected shortfall of about 70,000 living-wage jobs over the next decade and urged equity-focused planning.
The House Committee on Labor voted to pass HCR 100/HR 92, a resolution asking that workforce development efforts be coordinated into a statewide strategy and included in the state unified plan to expand living-wage jobs.
Speakers including Matthew Prendergast, Sherry Menor and Justina Acevedo Cross urged an inclusive, long-term approach that centers equity and data-driven goals. Prendergast said projections show the state will need roughly 170,000 living-wage jobs over the next decade but currently expects about 100,000, describing a gap of approximately 70,000 positions and arguing for coordinated, generational planning.
Yasmin Cheyne of the Commission on the Status of Women urged that workforce strategies include gender-disaggregated data and targeted inclusion strategies to address persistent wage and occupational gaps. The Hawaii Community Foundation’s Justina Acevedo Cross framed the resolution as a practical step toward system change to reduce out-migration and economic strain.
At decision-making, the chair’s recommendation to pass HCR 100/HR 92 as is was adopted with an excused absence recorded for one representative.
Next steps: the resolution will be transmitted per the committee’s adopted recommendation.
