Show Me the Benefits! Some states are betting on traditional employment incentives, including retirement accounts and pay raises, to lure younger workers to public sector jobs.

• Author: Barnes, Zaakary
• Position: LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

In the post-COVID economy, competition for a shrinking workforce has led to innovations in public sector employment policy. Once-experimental concepts, including pay transparency and competency-based hiring, are now common.

Still, to build tomorrow's public workforce, many states are relying on proven strategies, including better pay and benefits.

The Seesaw of Jobs Numbers

Over the last two decades, the labor force participation rate has shrunk. Before the pandemic, the main drivers of the decline tended to be generational, with a greater number of aging workers and fewer incoming younger workers. COVID-19 amplified existing pressures and introduced new ones. Early retirements, lack of child care and workplace safety concerns all contributed to an initial exodus of workers. Burnout and a desire for better work-life balance led to further resignations and job changes.

All told, the pandemic pushed unemployment to a record 14.8% in 2020. But after persevering through this social and economic disaster, the nation effectively seesawed to the other end of the employment spectrum: a record low unemployment rate of 3.4% in January, with job postings outpacing the recovery of the labor force.

The public sector has been hit especially hard. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, the total number of state and local government job openings in the months leading up to the pandemic had just topped 693,000. By April 2020, that number fell by more than 22% to 535,000. Since then, the number of job openings has continued to rise--and rise and rise.

Postings in state and local governments alone reached 946,000 by July 2022 and have remained high, with 959,000 job openings as recently as May.

Cost of a Reduced Workforce

Deep staffing shortages can complicate the delivery of key government services and, in some cases, threaten public health and safety. States and localities are in the midst of a prolonged crisis in police recruiting; severe employment gaps compromise the ability of state and local agencies to protect safe drinking water; and the pandemic threw into sharp relief the "neglect, panic, repeat" dynamic that has been in play in the public health workforce for years.

In Oregon, nearly 1 in 5 jobs in state agencies is currently vacant (though the number fluctuates). Understaffing can make jobs in corrections and public health more dangerous, leading to staggering human services caseloads and triggering...