Economic Impact | Employment

How has the employment situation of fire-impacted people changed since the fires?

Roughly a quarter of respondents now work fewer hours than before the wildfires. That means fire-affected people either switched from full-time to part-time work or no employment, or from part-time to no employment. A lack of sufficient job opportunities in West Maui and ongoing health effects of the disaster are likely the primary reasons. Only a small minority of respondents now work more hours than before the disaster. These numbers have remained notably consistent since August 2024, with no convincing evidence of rebound in employment uptake in this cohort yet.

Since the fires, full-time employment declined substantially. Before the disaster, over half of respondents were employed full-time, but that number has decreased to about 35-40%. At the same time, part-time work (not by choice) and unemployment have more than doubled. This has persisted until now and holds across many industries.

As expected, fire-impacted people working in the accommodation (hotels/lodging) and food services, recreation, and entertainment industries have been most affected. Only about 40-45% of the people who were employed in these industries before the fires still had full-time jobs in the tourism sector a year after the fires. Notably, we also see a decline in full-time employment in local services industries (including professional services and healthcare) and in trade and transportation industries. This may be due to both the reduction in visitors and the displacement of locals. While they have yet to match pre-fire levels, full-time employment in the accommodation, local services, as well as trade and transportation industries have begun to recover since August 2024. In the case of the accommodation industry, the increase in full-time employment is accompanied by a reduction in part-time employment. Still, full-time employment in tourism services (food services, recreation etc.) remains substantially below pre-fire levels.

In which industries do fire-impacted people work?

Before the fires, almost half of survey participants were employed in the tourism sector (either in accommodation or food services, recreation, and entertainment industries). Nearly a year and a half later, the tourism industry (particularly the accommodations industry) employs far fewer people. Now more people work in local and professional services than in food and entertainment services. Employment in other industries remained broadly stable.

The tourism industry was severely disrupted by the wildfires, and now less than 60% of people who worked in the tourism sector before the wildfires remain employed in the industry. More than 20% of tourism industry workers are now unemployed, retired, or not seeking employment. Over a quarter of tourism workers have transitioned to jobs in other sectors, either completely or to supplement tourism industry work, with the local non-tourism services receiving the largest influx of this group.

Where do fire-impacted people work?

Around three-quarters of survey participants who worked in West Maui at the time of the wildfires are still working there a year later. On the other hand, between 5 and 10% have taken up jobs on other Hawaiian islands or on the mainland. Depending on the survey month, between 35 and 50% now work in other parts of Maui. Rates since August 2024 have remained broadly stable. Note that some respondents may work multiple jobs in different parts of Maui, resulting in a total greater than 100%.

The majority of people who lived in other parts of Maui remain working in the same region. Still, between a quarter and half of this population have begun working in a different part of Maui than they had been pre-fire. A variety of reasons may have contributed to these changes in work locations, including residential moves driven by housing availability or affordability issues, increased competition from displaced West Maui workers and normal job churn.