Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: HI NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — October 2026
Hawaii nonmetro unemployment rises while IT security pay climbs.
Kauai's jobless rate spiked to 5.1% after Hurricane Lowell while Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose significantly to $123,000, underscoring a split between a softening broader labor market and persistent scarcity in technical security talent.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Kauai County unemployment: 5.1% — Up from 2.5% after Hurricane Lowell, Sept 2026
- Hawaii County unemployment: 3.5% — Highest among HI counties, Aug 2026
- Statewide unemployment: 2.8% — Highest in two years; up from 2.7% in Aug
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay (metro): $123,000 — Up significantly vs. national $107,327
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity and network pay keep climbing against a cooling broader market.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose significantly to $123,000 and Network Engineer pay moved up moderately to $124,133, even as statewide unemployment hit a two-year high of 2.8%. Demand for these skills appears insulated from the broader softening, consistent with executive surveys ranking cybersecurity as Hawaii's top business concern.
IT Project Manager pay is sliding fast, and that's a signal worth reading.
Metro IT Project Manager pay fell significantly to $77,393, well below the $118,150 national median — a wider gap than most other IT roles show. This may reflect employers absorbing project coordination into existing technical roles while reducing competition for standalone PM talent.
Software Engineer pay is drifting down while infrastructure roles hold firm.
Metro Software Engineer pay dropped moderately to $121,489 against a stable national median near $154,403, while Systems Administrator pay rose significantly to $98,512. Build-vs-buy decisions may increasingly favor maintaining in-house infrastructure staff over expanding local software development teams.
Hurricane disruption on Kauai is a preview of workforce volatility risk.
Kauai's unemployment rate jumped from 2.5% to 5.1% in a single month following Hurricane Lowell, illustrating how quickly labor supply can shift on smaller islands. IT leaders with distributed or island-based support staff should factor climate-driven disruption into continuity and staffing contingency planning.
Median advertised pay by role — HI NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $117,535 | $126,800 | $138,246 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $77,964 | $98,512 | $106,479 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $94,010 | $124,133 | $132,265 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $72,143 | $121,489 | $130,306 | Moderate decline | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $52,500 | $72,944 | $73,131 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $98,129 | $123,000 | $133,304 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $74,614 | $77,393 | $86,795 | Significant decline | $118,150 |
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 nonmetro counties show unemployment climbing across the board — Hawaii County to 3.5%, Maui County to 3.1%, with Kauai spiking to 5.1% after Hurricane Lowell disrupted the island's labor market in September — even as computer and mathematical occupations remain among the state's fastest-growing fields through 2032. Labor force growth of 1.1% year-over-year outpacing employment growth of 0.4% statewide suggests more workers are entering the market than employers are absorbing, a dynamic that has not yet reached technical occupations given persistent scarcity in cybersecurity and infrastructure skills.
What it means
Rising general unemployment alongside tight technical talent supply creates a split labor market: IT leaders face easing pressure on support and administrative hiring while specialized infrastructure, network, and security roles remain difficult to fill at competitive rates. Hawaii's IT pay sitting at 55-65% of mainland tech-hub equivalents continues to push skilled talent toward remote mainland employers, making retention of network and security staff an urgent planning priority alongside net-new hiring. Consider reviewing retention budgets for network engineering and cybersecurity staff ahead of 2026 wage structure updates, given that nearly 55% of Hawaii organizations plan to raise starting wages next year.
Looking ahead
Expected: County-level unemployment data for October won't publish until BLS releases metro figures in December, leaving Kauai's hurricane-driven spike and broader nonmetro trends unconfirmed for several weeks. IT leaders should treat current county figures as directional when planning Q1 headcount.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide WARN filings in food and hospitality, retail, and healthcare have not yet extended meaningfully into technology roles, but continued cost-of-living pressure and low executive confidence (only 12.3% expect 2026 improvement) could slow discretionary IT hiring further. Watch whether displaced workers from other sectors begin appearing in help desk and support applicant pools.
Worth watching: Systems Administrator pay's significant local increase to $98,512 outpaces the national moderate gain, suggesting Hawaii employers are competing harder for infrastructure talent even as broader unemployment rises. Confirm whether this reflects real scarcity or a small, volatile local sample before resetting pay bands.
Potential inflection point: Nearly 55% of Hawaii organizations plan increased starting wages for 2026, a structural shift that could compress pay differentials between entry-level and experienced IT staff. Organizations should evaluate whether current internal equity across IT pay bands will hold once broader wage floors move.
Sources
- The Garden Island — Kauai County unemployment spiked to 5.1% after Hurricane Lowell
- Hawaii Dept. of Labor / BLS — Hawaii County unemployment at 3.5%, highest among counties
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Hawaii statewide unemployment reached 2.8%, two-year high
- Hawaii IT labor market research notes — Hawaii IT salaries run 55-65% of San Francisco/Seattle equivalents
- Hawaii executive survey data — Cybersecurity ranks as top business concern for Hawaii executives
- Hawaii employer compensation survey — 54.8% of Hawaii organizations plan increased starting wages for 2026
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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