Packers and packagers, hand job market in Hawaii

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

Data availability

Published industry context is limited

The report below shows the available evidence. Missing figures are not estimated.

Limited published dataCitation

Occupation pay

What Packers and packagers, hand earn in Hawaii

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$35,930Hawaii
Middle 50% of published wages
$30,140 – $42,830
U.S. median annual wage
$36,280
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Hawaii

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Packers and packagers, hand, compared with the Hawaii median of $35,930.

Hawaii median$35,930
Kahului-Wailuku, HI$38,720+7.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$29,910 – $45,880Published employment210
Urban Honolulu, HI$35,490−1.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$30,140 – $41,540Published employment1,370

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Hawaii median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Local research

What the data shows for packers and packagers, hand in Hawaii

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 12, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

Among 2 comparable metro estimates associated with Hawaii in OEWS May 2025, the pay leader and employment-size leader differ. Kahului-Wailuku, HI has the highest median annual pay at $38,720, with estimated employment of 210. Urban Honolulu, HI has the largest employment estimate at 1,370, with median pay of $35,490. The pay leader's median is 9.1% higher; estimated employment describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Current market signals

Recent statewide layoff-notice context alongside the published BLS figures below. This signal does not feed the Job Market Health score.

Statewide layoff-notice filings

Hawaii statewide

8 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Hawaii’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Hawaii’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Workforce Development Division About WARN data

Source last checked

Indeed job postings · Hawaii

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

109.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+9.3%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.5%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

-0.6%Industry employmentU.S. -0.9%State data coverage: 100%
+0.7%EstablishmentsU.S. +1.0%State data coverage: 100%
+5.0%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +3.7%State data coverage: 100%
20,250Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 98.0%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards

Industry employment change over time

Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Packers and packagers, hand in Hawaii · percentage change

Year-over-year employment change (%) by reference quarter

Latest published values
  • Hawaii · 2026 Q1-0.6%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

Every published quarter

BLS does not publish a national quarterly series for this occupation’s industry mix, so only the Hawaii series is shown. The U.S. figure on the cards above is the latest quarter benchmark.

Quarterly year-over-year industry employment change for Packers and packagers, hand in Hawaii, with the published state data coverage for each quarter
QuarterHawaiiState data coverage
2024 Q2-0.5%100%
2024 Q3+0.3%100%
2024 Q4+1.1% Below coverage floor75.25%
2025 Q1+0.9%100%
2025 Q2+0.3% Below coverage floor75.08%
2025 Q30.0% Below coverage floor75.08%
2025 Q4-0.3% Below coverage floor75.25%
2026 Q1-0.6%100%

Industry mix behind this view

Which industries are weighted into this view. Not a ranking of employers or of job quality.

Industries weighted into the local context for Packers and packagers, hand in Hawaii
Industry groupShare of occupation employmentLocal employment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly wage
Trade, transportation, and utilities51.4%-0.7%8,221$1,256
Manufacturing24.1%-1.1%1,198$1,321
Professional and business services20.1%+0.3%10,831$1,535
Leisure and hospitality0.8%+0.4%6,258$941
Private education and health services0.5%0.0%8,060$1,373
Other services0.4%+0.3%5,010$1,012
QCEW release
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
January to March 2026
BLS publication date
August 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified September 17, 2026
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035

The publication date above is the official BLS news release date for this reference quarter, linked to the notice. The values match the snapshot independently checked against BLS sources on September 17, 2026. The publication date identifies the quarterly news release, not the exact revision date. The data period above is the quarter the figures describe.

QCEW describes the industries that employ this occupation, not the occupation itself. It is not a count of job openings and is not part of the 0-100 Job Market Health score.

Evidence record

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Packers and packagers, hand
SOC code
53-7064
State
Hawaii
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-0.6%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-0.9%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.3 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+0.7%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+5.0%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/packers-and-packagers-hand/hawaii#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

AI & this occupation

How AI relates to Packers and packagers, hand work

Across 4 research exposure measures, Packers and packagers, hand is in the middle technical AI exposure band based on the mean of the available source-specific percentile ranks. Exposure describes how much of the work the studied AI capabilities could technically assist with; it is not a forecast of job loss.

The saved Anthropic task-exposure benchmark records a zero index for this occupation. This is not proof of no AI use; the observation window is not recorded in this saved release.

JobMarketHealth has not measured an AI effect on this occupation's employment or wages, and these figures do not enter its scores; there is no clear evidence of displacement in the data shown here.

Technical AI exposureMiddle exposureMean of 4 available source-specific percentile ranks (4 measures checked); fixed exposure bands, not a national rank of the composite
Dated Claude task exposureLower thirdObserved task-exposure benchmark 0.000; observation window not recorded
Business AI use (BTOS Core)24.6%U.S. businesses using AI, two weeks ending 2026-10-04; all industries, not this occupation
Historical task mix (2025)Not enough tasksFewer than 3 observed tasks
Measured labor-market effectNot estimatedJobMarketHealth does not attribute employment or wage changes to AI

Exposure measures (kept separate)

  • GPTs are GPTs exposure (β, GPT-4 rated): 0.10 of 1, national percentile 21 (lower third)
  • Microsoft AI applicability: 0.07 of 1, national percentile 20 (lower third)
  • AIOE (Felten, Raj & Seamans): -1.51 (standardized), national percentile 6 (lower third)
  • OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 0.5 of 23, national percentile 95 (higher third)
OECD capability gap by domain

As published by the OECD: the gap between what the occupation demands (0-5) and current AI capability in each domain. A lower gap means AI is closer to the requirement (higher potential exposure); 0 means AI already meets it or the domain is not relevant.

  • Language: gap 0.00 (demand 1.25 of 5)
  • Social interaction: gap 0.00 (demand 1.20 of 5)
  • Problem solving: gap 0.00 (demand 1.05 of 5)
  • Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 0.25 of 5)
  • Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 0.00 (demand 1.00 of 5)
  • Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.00 (demand 1.05 of 5)
  • Vision: gap 0.00 (demand 2.15 of 5)
  • Manipulation: gap 0.70 (demand 2.70 of 5)
  • Robotic intelligence: gap 0.10 (demand 2.10 of 5)

National context: what businesses used generative AI for

From the Census 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (all industries; businesses whose employees used generative AI). Census did not measure Packers and packagers, hand specifically.

  • Writing or editing documents, emails, or communications: 85.4%
  • Searching for information or technical help: 49.9%
  • Interpreting, analyzing, translating, or summarizing documents: 44.6%
  • Information processing, paperwork, or filing: 34.7%

Hawaii context

In the Census BTOS core AI-use question, an estimated 28.6% of Hawaii employer businesses reported using AI in the two weeks ending 2026-10-04 (U.S.: 24.6%).

Separately, the one-time 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (collected 2025-11-17 to 2026-02-08) found 15.4% of Hawaii businesses using AI at that time, and 19.1% reporting that employees used generative AI for work tasks in the prior six months. It describes how AI was being used then, not a trend.

Using each occupation's exposure band and Hawaii employment weights (OEWS May 2025), 25.3% of covered jobs are in occupations in the higher-exposure band. This describes the state's occupation mix, not a measured AI effect.

Exposure and observed usage are separate measures and neither equals job loss. Census BTOS figures are business-level surveys and are not occupation-specific. Sources: GPTs are GPTs occupation exposure; Microsoft Working with AI: AI applicability; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE); OECD AI Exposure Measure (AI Capability Gap); Anthropic Economic Index; Census BTOS Core AI Use; Census BTOS AI Supplement 2025-26. These figures do not affect Job Market Health scores. Explore AI & Jobs · How we use AI data.

How to read this page

QCEW measures employment and wages by industry, not by occupation. We weight those industry conditions using the published industry mix for Packers and packagers, hand. These figures describe the industries that employ Packers and packagers, hand; they are not direct counts of people working in the occupation or of jobs currently open. This page is not part of the national 0 to 100 Job Market Health score.

Source: BLS QCEW. See the methodology, the national Packers and packagers, hand report and about the data.

Compare Hawaii with other statesPublished industry employment, business locations and average weekly industry wages for up to three states, with the national benchmark in percentage points.

Packers and packagers, hand in other states

Choose another state below to explore its available industry context.