Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Honolulu, HI MSA — October 2026
Honolulu unemployment rises while IT pay keeps climbing
Honolulu's unemployment rate hit a two-year high of 3.0% in September, even as advertised pay for Systems Administrators ($98,480) and Software Engineers ($165,069) posted significant local gains outpacing national trends.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Honolulu unemployment rate: 3.0% — Up from 2.9% in August; two-year high
- Labor force vs. employment growth: 1.1% vs 0.4% — Year-over-year, Sept 2025–Sept 2026
- Hawaii IT pay vs. mainland tech hubs: 55-65% — Of San Francisco/Seattle equivalent pay
- Hawaii WARN notices, 2026: 26 notices / 2,091 workers — Roughly on par with 2025 totals
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national trend.
Metro median advertised pay of $98,480 is rising at a significant clip versus a moderate national increase to $102,503, narrowing the usual mainland premium. This suggests local employers are bidding aggressively for infrastructure staff to fill the gap directly, rather than depending on remote hires.
Cybersecurity hiring reflects board-level anxiety.
54.3% of Hawaii executives cite cybersecurity as a serious short-term concern, and advertised Cybersecurity Analyst pay in Honolulu ($115,000) is rising significantly against a moderate national trend. This points to sustained concern driving the role's staffing priority, even as broader IT hiring softens. Budget for this role is likely to hold even as broader IT hiring softens.
Rising unemployment masks a tightening technical labor pool.
Honolulu's unemployment rate hit a two-year high of 3.0%, but that slack is concentrated in hospitality, retail, and transportation — sectors shedding workers through WARN filings, while IT employment has held steady. Headcount planning should treat metro-wide unemployment figures as a poor proxy for technical talent availability.
Software Engineer pay gap with the mainland is narrowing fast.
Honolulu's median advertised rate of $165,069 now sits above the national median of $154,403, a significant local increase against a stable national trend. Organizations weighing build-vs-buy for cloud-native development may find the local premium erodes the cost case for keeping engineering in-house locally compared with nearshoring or contracting.
Median advertised pay by role — Honolulu, HI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $106,158 | $126,800 | $145,355 | Moderate increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $82,612 | $98,480 | $110,555 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $88,612 | $123,960 | $134,331 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $122,330 | $165,069 | $185,369 | Significant increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $44,450 | $55,048 | $70,049 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $90,059 | $115,000 | $131,818 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $106,182 | $124,573 | $132,552 | Significant increase | $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
Honolulu's unemployment rate climbed to 3.0% in September, the highest level in two years, as labor force growth of 1.1% outpaced employment growth of just 0.4% — a sign more residents are seeking work amid rising cost-of-living pressure even as job creation stalls. Aviation sector contraction continues to shape the metro's hiring signal: Alaska Air Group's sixth round of post-merger cuts since 2024 eliminated 40 Hawaii management roles in late October, adding to a steady drumbeat of WARN filings across transportation, retail, and hospitality.
What it means
Soft overall job growth paired with a historically tight technical talent pool creates a bifurcated planning problem: IT leaders can be more selective on general hiring while still facing acute competition for systems administration, network engineering, and cybersecurity talent, where advertised pay is rising at significant rates locally. Hawaii IT salaries running 55-65% of mainland tech-hub equivalents continues to push skilled staff toward remote mainland roles, making retention the more urgent lever for infrastructure and security headcount, ahead of recruitment. Consider reviewing retention premiums for systems administration and cybersecurity roles specifically, where Honolulu's advertised pay growth is outpacing the national rate and signals active local competition for scarce supply.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Alaska Air Group's sixth post-merger layoff round suggests further management and IT-adjacent reductions are plausible in coming months. Watch whether displaced aviation IT and operations staff enter the local technical candidate pool and ease pressure on systems administration hiring.
Emerging pressure point: Labor force growth continues to outpace job creation (1.1% versus 0.4% year-over-year), a pattern that typically signals residents returning to work under financial strain, with employer-driven expansion playing a smaller role. If this persists, expect continued downward pressure on entry-level IT and help desk wages even as specialized roles stay tight.
Potential inflection point: 54.8% of Hawaii organizations plan increased starting wages for 2026, which could compress the gap between entry-level and specialized IT compensation. Organizations should evaluate whether current pay structures for Help Desk and junior support roles need adjustment given Hawaii's $16/hour minimum wage floor and the scheduled move to $18 in 2028.
Early indicator: No October unemployment data has been released due to the federal shutdown, leaving a gap in current labor supply visibility. Expect a delayed but potentially sharp data correction once figures resume, which may affect timing of Q1 2027 headcount decisions.
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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