Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: HI NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — September 2026
Nonmetro Hawaii's finance pay floor lags as automation risk builds.
Hawaii County's $1,190 average weekly wage remains the state's lowest even as finance sector employment statewide faces a forecast 1.3% job decline from digital banking consolidation.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Hawaii County avg weekly wage: $1,190 — Lowest among HI counties; vs $1,250 Maui, $1,220 Kauai
- Statewide unemployment rate: 2.5% — Down from 2.7% in August 2026
- HI finance/insurance job forecast: -1.3% — ~200 jobs, tied to AI and digital banking shift
- National finance sector job losses: -129,000 since May 2025 — Led by insurance carriers, -90,000 jobs
Key takeaways
Nonmetro wage floor sits well below statewide levels.
Hawaii County's $1,190 average weekly wage trails Maui's $1,250 and Kauai's $1,220, the lowest among Hawaii's smaller counties in Q1 2026. Finance roles sourced from this labor pool may require geographic differentials rather than flat statewide pay structures.
Finance sector automation is a headcount planning variable now, not a future risk.
Hawaii's finance and insurance sector is forecast to shed 200 jobs (1.3%) this year amid digital banking consolidation and AI adoption, even as sector employment edged up 0.5% to 23,404 jobs statewide. Controllers should model which finance operations functions face automation exposure before locking in 2027 headcount budgets.
Construction resilience is propping up accounting demand indirectly.
Construction payrolls grew 3.3% year-over-year through July despite a 34% drop in private building permit value, meaning current projects still generate audit and bookkeeping workload even as the pipeline thins. Expect this support to fade as permit declines filter into completed-project accounting needs over the next two to three quarters.
National finance wage deceleration offers rare budget relief.
September's national average hourly earnings growth slowed to 0.13% month-over-month (3.0% year-over-year), below the 3.2% consensus estimate, easing pressure on salary budgets mid-fiscal-year. Nonmetro Hawaii employers competing for finance talent may find this a window to lock in offers before national hiring momentum (74% of F&A leaders planning headcount increases) tightens the market again.
Median advertised pay by role — HI NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $90,271 | $108,792 | $120,475 | Significant increase | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $76,795 | $82,662 | $87,500 | Moderate decline | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $81,641 | $92,066 | $103,066 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $40,807 | $45,625 | $52,000 | Significant decline | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $34,149 | $48,999 | $99,840 | Moderate increase | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $50,960 | $64,480 | $66,945 | Significant increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager | $99,421 | $137,500 | $137,500 | Significant increase | $128,139 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Local market conditions
Hawaii's statewide unemployment rate eased to 2.5% in September from 2.7% in August, but nonmetro Hawaii County continues to trail the state on wage levels, posting the lowest average weekly wage ($1,190) among Hawaii's counties in Q1 2026. Construction payroll strength (41,200 jobs, up 3.3% year-over-year) is offsetting softness elsewhere, while finance and insurance employment statewide faces a forecast 1.3% job decline tied to digital banking consolidation and AI-driven process automation.
What it means
Automation-driven contraction in finance and insurance roles statewide, paired with nonmetro Hawaii's persistently lower wage floor, suggests headcount planning should separate roles exposed to digital consolidation from those tied to construction-adjacent accounting demand, which remains comparatively resilient. Finance leaders budgeting for close-cycle and audit support staff in this geography should weigh thinner local labor supply against national finance sector deceleration (financial activities down 129,000 jobs since May 2025), which may ease some recruiting competition even as scarcity persists for specialized roles. Consider reviewing whether current nonmetro compensation structures reflect the $1,190 average weekly wage ceiling in Hawaii County relative to statewide and metro Honolulu benchmarks before finalizing 2027 headcount cost models.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Hawaii's statewide unemployment rate has moved up five times since January (from 2.2% to recent highs near 2.7%), even with September's dip to 2.5%. Watch whether nonmetro counties follow the same upward drift, which would widen the gap between labor availability and wage competitiveness for finance support roles.
Emerging pressure point: Finance and insurance sector job losses (forecast at 200 statewide) tied to AI and digital banking consolidation may begin showing up in nonmetro branch and back-office roles first, given thinner local redundancy. Monitor whether displaced finance workers enter the nonmetro candidate pool or relocate toward Honolulu.
Potential inflection point: Private building permit values are down 34% through July even as construction payrolls hold near 41,200 jobs. A permit-driven slowdown reaching completed projects could soften demand for construction-adjacent accounting and audit support by early 2027.
Worth watching: National F&A hiring intentions remain strong (74% planning increased permanent headcount, 63% expecting more contract use) despite sector-wide payroll contraction. Nonmetro Hawaii employers should track whether this national rebound pulls remote or hybrid finance talent away from local candidate pools.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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