Hawaii keiki face mixed trends in well-being vs. mainland peers
The annual report, now in its 36th year, evaluates child well-being across four categories—economic well-being, education, health, and family and community—using 16 key indicators.
Hawaii ranked 24th overall in the nation, a slight improvement from 29th in 2024, but trends in housing and employment signal urgent challenges ahead.
More than one in three children in Hawaii lived in households burdened by high housing costs in 2023—the fifth-worst rate in the country. Though the state saw a slight improvement in housing cost burden from 38 % in 2019 to 35 % in 2023, the issue remains more severe than the national average of 30 %.
At the same time, the share of children whose parents lacked secure employment jumped from 24 % to 28 % over the same period, diverging from the national trend, which saw a modest improvement.
Hawaii's rank in this category dropped from 16th to 36th in the nation.
'It took the lowest-income families a decade to recover from the Great Recession, and now we are once again facing the threat of a greater share of our keiki growing up in economic hardship, which can have harmful lifelong effects on their well-being, ' said Ivette Rodriguez Stern, junior specialist at the University of Hawaii Center on the Family. 'Without bold action from our leaders, it will be difficult for our children and their families to climb out of the upcoming economic hole they're likely to experience.'
The warning comes as the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization predicts a potential recession, and as proposed federal budget cuts threaten to push thousands of local families out of vital food and health care programs.
Deborah Zysman, executive director of Hawaii Children's Action Network, said the report's findings must serve as a call to action.
'Year after year, the KIDS COUNT Data Book reminds us that more can and must be done to support the economic well-being of Hawai 'i's children and their families. With the looming threat of a recession and harsh cuts to crucial programs, our state's leaders must act now to prevent our children's well-being from deteriorating further.'
Education indicators were another weak spot for Hawaii, with the state ranking 29th in this domain.
The share of fourth graders not proficient in reading rose to 68 %, slightly better than the national average of 70 % but still trending in the wrong direction. Eighth grade math proficiency worsened from 72 % not proficient in 2019 to 77 % in 2024—worse than the national rate of 73 %.
Preschool access remained stagnant, with 54 % of 3-and 4-year-olds not enrolled, matching the national average. However, on-time high school graduation improved slightly, with 86 % of students graduating on time in 2022 compared with 85 % in 2019.
Where Hawaii shines is in the health of its children. The state ranked 10th in the nation, with only 3 % of children lacking health insurance—the third lowest rate nationally—and one of the lowest child and teen death rates in the country, improving from 24 per 100, 000 in 2019 to 18 in 2023.
Despite those strengths, the share of low birth-weight babies increased slightly from 8.4 % to 8.7 %, and childhood obesity worsened, with 29 % of children ages 10 to 17 considered overweight or obese—just below the national rate of 31 %.
The state also ranked 14th in the family and community domain. The state's teen birth rate dropped significantly from 16 to 11 per 1, 000, and the percentage of children living in high-poverty areas improved from 5 % to 4 %. The rate of children in single-parent households held steady at 34 %, matching the national figure.
Overall, experts say the report offers a critical snapshot of the challenges and opportunities facing Hawaii's youngest residents.
The full 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book is available at and data for Hawaii can be found at.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
20 hours ago
- Business Insider
I landed my dream job without even applying for it. Here's how I did it and my advice for other job seekers.
Alicia Strata, 38, is a marketing creator and integrator at Alabama World Travel, a luxury travel agency based in Montgomery, Alabama. In July, Business Insider wrote about how Strata and seven other Americans who graduated in the Great Recession navigated early career challenges — and what Gen Z college grads can learn from them. The following has been edited for length and clarity. I've tried to launch my career during a hiring slowdown twice — first out of college, and again last year after 10 years at home raising my children. The second time was worse — it took me over a year to get hired. But my journey ended with me landing my dream job. Joining Teach for America taught me resilience I graduated from Columbia College Chicago in May 2010, when the Great Recession had pushed the unemployment rate to nearly 10%. I had a marketing communications degree and hoped to land a role at an advertising agency. But the job market was tough, so I decided to pivot. Teaching was completely out of my area of study, but I was looking for something that felt both purposeful and possible in a shrinking job market. Teach for America offered that: a paycheck, a mission, and structure during chaos. The summer after graduation, I moved to South Dakota to begin my placement as a 4th-grade teacher. My placement was on a Native American reservation inSouth Dakota, where the closest Walmart was two hours away. Some of the kids were dealing with serious challenges at home, and it was hard to make them care about learning their multiplication tables. I had to get creative and develop real resilience. I also learned to get over my ego. If you want to find out what your insecurities are, go into a classroom of middle schoolers. Although TFA didn't directly further my marketing career, it helped me develop personally and as a leader. It gave me life experience and helped me build the resilience and adaptability I needed in future job searches. We want to hear from job seekers and people who recently landed a job. If you're open to sharing your story, please fill out one or more of the linked Google Forms. I became a stay-at-home mom when my kids were born After finishing the program in 2012, I spent a year working at an international school in South Korea, where my then-boyfriend lived. We got engaged and moved to Chicago, and I found a full-time graphic design job. But after getting married in 2013, I unexpectedly got pregnant right away. I worked through the pregnancy but left my job and became a stay-at-home mom after my child was born. I now have three kids, between the ages of six and 10. From 2015 to 2020, I did some remote, part-time marketing work for a digital advertising company, but it was very minimal — and definitely not something that looked exciting on a résumé. The gig ended in early 2020, shortly before the pandemic-induced recession, after the company was sold abruptly. I had just had my third kid and was struggling to juggle everything, so I felt it was, in some ways, good timing. Taking a part-time seasonal job and then being let go was a hit to my ego In 2021, we moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and about a year later, I found myself in a kind of sink-or-swim moment when my marriage ended. Overnight, I was navigating single parenthood, a sparse résumé, and the urgent need to rebuild my career from the ground up. At the beginning of my renewed job search, I was hopeful. I got the kids to school, started on all the online job boards, and didn't wrap up until eight hours later when it was time to pick up the kids. However, the results were extremely discouraging. I was applying constantly, managing full-time parenting, and facing rejection after rejection. In 2023, I landed a part-time seasonal job at Hobby Lobby. That hurt my ego, but I needed to get some momentum, particularly because the job market was starting to take a turn for the worse. There were plans for me to stay on after the season ended, but in early 2024, they ended up letting me go. The idea that I couldn't even keep a part-time retail job was hard to stomach, but I tried to stay resilient, pick myself back up, and start applying again. I found my dream job when I wasn't looking for it In February 2024, I applied for a job as an administrative assistant at an accounting firm, even though I couldn't be less interested in accounting. I didn't get the job, but the third-party recruiter the company worked with said there was a part-time office support job at a luxury travel agency that he thought might be a good fit for me. I was skeptical, but agreed to the interview. The morning of the interview, I sent a group text to some of my close friends, saying, "I'll let you know how the interview goes. Don't want it, so the odds are in my favor of getting it" — just being tongue-in-cheek. But when I walked into the office, it had a really good vibe. Everybody was quietly plugging away at their desks, and everyone I met was just so warm. The interviewer started by asking me basic questions, but they kept asking about marketing, which I found a little confusing since I was interviewing for the office support role. Halfway through the interview, they slid a piece of paper across the table. It was a job description for a marketing creator and integrator role — exactly the kind of job I'd hoped to find since graduating from college, but hadn't been able to secure. I literally looked around and thought, Is somebody filming this right now? Am I being pranked? It turned out, they'd been looking for a marketing person and felt I sounded like a great fit. I burst out laughing because I couldn't believe it. It was amazing to walk into the interview not even wanting the role, and walk out thinking it could be my dream career. My advice for others struggling with the job search process I started working at the company in March 2024. My initial instincts about the company have proven correct — my co-workers have become like a second family, and the working environment is great. Later on, I happened to meet the woman who had gotten the admin assistant job I didn't get at the accounting firm. She was another single mom with four boys who had been on the verge of losing her home when she landed the job. You don't often get to see what's on the other side of a job rejection; that full-circle moment has really stuck with me. My biggest advice for people struggling to find work — whether you're a recent college graduate or have been in the workforce for decades — is to be open to different opportunities and stay engaged in the process. If you're going to do something, do it wholeheartedly. While I wasn't interested in the job I thought I was interviewing for, I gave myself fully to the interview. Even if it wasn't the right role, something better at the company could've opened up later. If you don't have your foot in the door anywhere, you can't move up from anywhere.
Business Insider
21 hours ago
- Business Insider
How Gen Zers are landing roles in tech — or pivoting away
Kanika Mohan thought she'd have a job after graduation — and hopefully it would come with three meals and laundry service. The 21-year-old studied computer science, had a slate of summer internships at top tech companies, and regularly attended campus career fairs. A first-generation college student, the 2025 grad felt STEM was the surefire path to corporate success. "I love building things and computer science was a pretty hot topic over social media," Mohan said. The jobs were cushy, with all kinds of perks. "It was just insane to think about," she added. "I never saw my parents have any of those jobs. My parents worked regular, non-corporate, blue-collar jobs." Frustrated by a monthslong job hunt, Mohan began looking outside Big Tech. She said she applied for business analyst and marketing roles at airlines, banks, and consumer companies, and any other opportunity she could find in her skillset. She was eventually hired by a major tech company, but she's glad that she broadened her search. Mohan's experience is increasingly common. Jobs in computer science and tech have long been advertised as a path to lucrative salaries and luxurious office perks. But, with AI and widespread corporate cost-cutting contributing to a white-collar hiring slowdown, the industry is hemorrhaging entry-level opportunities. The tech job market is not just rough for newcomers. Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, wrote in a new blog post that the US tech industry seems to be in an employment recession because it mirrors the Great Recession. US job postings for tech workers on job-search platform Indeed have cooled more than overall postings from Great Resignation peaks. However, some more experienced job seekers may fare better if they have the skills needed in the growing AI talent war. As doors close across the industry, tech grads are having to rethink their dream roles. BI spoke with Gen Zers and labor market experts to understand the challenges young tech aspirants are facing — and potential solutions. Business Insider is reporting on how each generation is experiencing the job market. If you're open to sharing your experience, reach out to one of these reporters at allisonkelly@ jkaplan@ and mhoff@ And read our coverage: Ambitious Gen Zers did everything right. Then they hit the job market. Frustrated job seekers are giving up on their dream roles: 'I'll take almost anything' Job searching in 2025? It's a mess no matter how old you are. Welcome to the age of office paranoia, when layoffs, AI, and job insecurity are terrorizing workers 'Chances are you won't get a job at Microsoft' After landing her role, Mohan now teaches other 20-somethings on TikTok about how to break into the tech industry. "One thing I realized is that a lot of people have a dream company or a dream role," she said. "But it's really tough to do that anymore. You can't just be like, 'I want to work at Microsoft, so I'm only going to apply to Microsoft.' Chances are you won't get a job at Microsoft." Economists said this is a smart strategy. The number of computer and information sciences grads has increased in recent years, so holders of those degrees face more competition for a shrinking number of openings. AI is also shifting what entry-level work looks like in those fields, and companies are looking for ways to cut costs and streamline their workforce. Zhao, the Glassdoor economist, told Business Insider that many tech employers have been slow to hire entry-level workers. A Burning Glass Institute report showed that the unemployment rate for Gen Zers and younger millennials in computer and math occupations has recently increased from before the pandemic, meaning recent graduates could be up against others competing for similar roles. "It's no surprise that new graduates in computer science and engineering have had a tough time getting their foot in the door," Zhao said. It's part of why Gen Zers like Timothy Innamorato are considering pivoting. He wanted to work in tech, but he's also been applying for grocery store and janitorial jobs. Since completing a certification program in computer science and information technology last year, 27-year-old Innamorato has sent out a few hundred job applications, he said, and has landed around eight interviews in his field. "I've been shifting my views on whether or not I even want to continue looking at the moment, especially with the AI thing that's happening now," he said. He's also gotten a few interviews for grocery store jobs, which he's been applying to because he needs something to keep him afloat. He's had some success getting callbacks when he applies to custodial positions in his local school district. "Everybody now is shifting over to the idea of going to do trades, so being a plumber or doing HVAC or being an electrician. Honestly, that doesn't sound like a bad thing, it's just that you got to be on your feet a lot more and you got to go to people's houses and crawl in attics," he said. "It's not the same as IT. But I mean, I don't know." How to stand out in the application 'numbers game' Charley Kim, 23, recently landed a software engineering role at a Big Tech company. He said he's lucky — he graduated in 2024 with a computer science degree and knows several friends who are still looking for work. "There are just so many people applying to the jobs, and there's only a limited number of jobs out there," Kim said, adding, "Getting an interview is probably harder than the interviews themselves." Though Kim said that the job hunt can feel like a random "numbers game," he thinks the effort he put into networking paid off. Not only did talking to people already in the tech industry help him hone his application, he said it allowed him to get the referrals he needed to make his résumé stand out from the pile. Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at Handshake, said it's important to build a community because job searching can be time-consuming and emotionally taxing. As Mohan put it, the post-grad job search can feel "really scary, really harsh, and really painful." Cruzvergara said your community can include friends, advisors, or whoever can help you feel better and give you real feedback during job hunting. Cruzvergara also suggested not filling out hundreds of applications and instead making sure you're putting enough time into checking out the company, including whether it seems like a good fit. " Mass applying is actually hurting people because they're putting in lower-quality applications that aren't going to stand up in a competitive applicant pool," Bonnie Dilber, a recruiter at a software company, previously told Business Insider. Natasha Pillay-Bemath, vice president of global talent acquisition and executive search at IBM, said there will continue to be demand for entry-level talent, especially in "more critical, complex spaces of tech like AI and cloud." Strong applicants should show that they can both master using AI and also lean on soft skills like creativity and effective communication, she said, as AI takes away the "rote work" of an entry-level hire. Mohan said she had a few different versions of her résumé and cover letter depending on the types of roles she was applying for. Putting her experience and interests on paper — and occasionally using AI to optimize for specific positions — helped her build confidence. "Building my résumé early on helped me also realize that I know I can switch industries," she said. "I realized what industry I like and what roles I like because there's so, so many different things you can do. You won't know that unless you actually try."
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Gold analyst warns of 2011-style 'blow-off top'
Carley Garner is a long-time futures trader who has seen a thing or two over a career that has lasted over twenty years, including gold market rallies and sell-offs. The massive rally in gold stocks this year to north of $3,357 per ounce has caught her attention, and not in a good way. Gold prices are up over 28% year-to-date in 2025, and the size and speed of the move (and the reasons behind it) remind her of a similar rally 14 years ago in 2011. Back then, the outcome for gold bugs wasn't fun. "The 2011 top was met with a 45% haircut that took nearly a decade to recover," according to Garner. Gold has enjoyed a perfect storm this year as macro crosscurrents hamstring the Fed's monetary policy, GDP slips, and the US debt outlook worsens. Unemployment has risen to 4.2% from 3.4% in 2023, CPI inflation of 2.7% is stubbornly above the Fed's 2% inflation target, the World Bank says GDP is expected to fall to 1.4% from 2.8% last year, and debt experts say the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act passed this year will add $3.4 trillion to the US debt by 2034. Related: Analyst expects gold to fall off the 'Wall of Worry' The risks have hammered the US Dollar, causing the Dollar Index to tumble 10% in 2025. Since gold is priced in USD, the Dollar's struggles have made it more attractive to overseas buyers eager to diversify their holdings away from US Treasuries in protest of President Trump's tariff policy. The significant uncertainty has also made antsy investors far more interested in gold than Treasuries as a safe haven. "Safe haven dollars can purchase gold, an asset that doesn't produce income, at an all-time high without a risk parachute, or they can buy Treasuries at multi-decade lows with a yield of 4% to 5% to cushion downside price risk," said Garner in a TheStreet Pro post. "Ironically, the masses select the former and pass on the latter." Many are indeed giving up on Treasuries' relatively juicy yields, fearing the worst. That may not be the best move, though, for newer gold bugs, given that gold has already rocketed to all-time highs this summer. Troubling times always increase interest in gold, and this isn't the first time that gold has put on a show. In 2011, gold similarly rallied sharply to all-time highs amid uncertainty around major banks and the economy, and aftershocks following the Great Recession, which was still fresh on investors' minds. Related: Major analyst resets gold price target after shocking economic data Remember the S&P cut the US debt rating for the first time in history in August 2011 because of the growing deficit, prompting a massive 5.5% drop in the S&P 500 on Aug. 8. The situation was so bad that Warren Buffett famously back-stopped Bank of America on Aug. 25, providing a cash influx in exchange for preferred stocks and warrants that eventually made Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway a mint when risk assets found their footing and gold lost its luster. "Although gold is known as a safe-haven asset, it has a history of stunning corrections," reminded Garner. "For instance, the 2011 top was met with a 45% haircut that took nearly a decade to recover." Like most investments, momentum can drive assets higher and lower than logic may dictate, making betting against it a risky endeavor. Still, most money is made or lost by acting ahead of the turning points that mark tops and bottoms. Given that gold has already made a major move higher, investors are wise to consider whether we're closer to a top like 2011 than a bottom like a few years ago. More Experts Stocks & Markets Podcast: Sectors to Avoid With Jay WoodsTrader makes bold call with Boeing stock after defense workers strikeVeteran fund manager sends urgent 9-word message on stocks "Gold is an asset that should only be bought when nobody wants it. If everyone is buying it, it's probably too late for anyone with a time horizon of less than a decade or longer," said Garner. There's certainly an argument that gold bullishness is widespread, with many talking positively about it as a hedge worth owning. "If you are looking for bearish analyst calls or news, you won't find it," said Garner. "But don't let this detract you from being skeptical." Gold was panned as a "dead dog acting as a drag to portfolios" three years ago, says Garner. Today, she says, "it is considered a must-hold in those same portfolios." In other words, contrarian thinking, akin to buying when everyone is selling and selling when everyone is buying, may make more sense today regarding gold than three years ago. "Just as conventional thinking was misguided then, it might be wrong today," wrote Garner. Related: Stock market gets 'kick in the pants' from startling inflation report The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
