Workforce
State and local governments face a tight labor market and a competitive disadvantage with the private sector. But salaries aren’t the only issue, with cities, counties and states all grappling with training, retention, remote work and increased union activity.
Roofers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and laborers are organizing to demand better job conditions, including more contractor oversight, living wages, safety training, heat protections and hiring local to the neighborhoods.
Like some of its Midwestern and Northwestern neighbors, it put the program on a solid fiscal foundation. California and New York show the consequences of failing.
Latinos make up ever increasing shares of student bodies and the workforce but lag behind whites in science and technical education. One North Carolina county has a promising approach.
In the summer of 2022 the state reduced the filing fee for new LLCs to just $1, triggering a surge in fraud and registration delinquencies. Now the state must deal with the fallout, including the possibility that current business and job numbers are not reliable because of it.
The Missouri County voted to boost the pay for some positions within the county’s highway department in an attempt to lure new workers. The county has more than 60 open positions.
Longshoremen are striking for better wages, but they also say they're fighting to protect jobs against automation. U.S. ports tend to be less automated than some large ports in other countries.
Warehouses and other facilities have been expanded since pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, leaving L.A. and Long Beach ready to increase volume if East Coast port workers strike this week.
Good jobs are a bedrock of resilient communities. State and local governments can spar over who sets standards, but there are ways to meet both state standards and local needs.
Innovative wage subsidy programs and other services can help workers without college degrees demonstrate their skills to the employers who need them.
In the past year, 83 percent of Georgia’s corporate recruitment has landed outside of the 10-county Atlanta area. A new program, Georgia Match, sent more than 132,000 letters to high school seniors to highlight technical college programs across the state.
Other states look to Texas as the state psychology board pushes against the new national licensing requirements.
The percentage growth in daily commuters from outside Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Mobile far exceed internal growth. Alabama’s average commute time of 23.5 minutes is average among U.S. states.
The state has grown by about 2.4 million people since 2003 and yet the DMV says it’s only been authorized to open three new driver’s license offices. The Legislature sets the number of staff for the DMV, which is capped at 568.
2020 made police reform “sexy” on a policy level, leading to a significant increase in civilian oversight boards around the country. However, in the years following, many of these boards are still trying to find their footing.
The last time the federal minimum wage was increased, to its current rate of $7.25 an hour, was 2007. Since then, cumulative inflation has increased 46.6 percent. Nevada’s state minimum wage reached $12 hourly on July 1.
Workers in some states, such as Florida, Montana, New Hampshire and Vermont, have seen sharp increases in earnings, especially where there are scenic areas and labor shortages.
The Los Angeles Superior Court system has more than 125 court reporter vacancies, which raises due process concerns for people in child custody disputes, divorces, conservatorships and other proceedings.
A report found that residents who work minimum wage jobs would need to work 82 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom rental home. But many cities across the state do not have enough low-cost housing to accommodate the number of low-wage workers.
Many big-city departments are short of officers. It's not a new problem, but young people seem to be shying away from the field.
The state has two openings for every unemployed person. Both the state and private companies are stepping up their outreach efforts and apprentice programs.
The average West Loop lease for a Class A building before COVID-19 was 30,000 square feet. For 2023 and 2024, the average is just 18,000. Companies are also looking for newer buildings with top-end amenities.
The three-year contract closes pay and working condition disparities within the 12-school university system by increasing pay, minimum wage and annual leave accrual.
In the typical state, personnel costs represent 40 percent less of the overall budget than was true 30 years ago.
The state’s largest law enforcement organization found that police staffing in the state is at a 30-year low and is especially bad in rural counties.
Fearing a fishbowl political environment, too many public-sector organizations are reluctant to collect and use data on how they’re doing in hiring and retaining talent. But it’s better to know than not to know.
The company behind ChatGPT funded a three-year research program on the impacts of universal basic income. It found that the extra income allowed participants to be more selective about career choices and have more time for leisure.
Under a new mandate, city workers returned to the office full time last week. However, about a dozen workers described the chaotic transition that included animal droppings, missing desks and ongoing construction.
Advocates say that artificial intelligence has the potential to streamline agriculture tasks and help make farming greener. But there are still concerns about wasting time sorting through data and protection of privacy.
The merger will combine departments that oversee zoning and permitting, the 311, non-emergency line, real estate deals and workforce challenges. At least one office is eliminating 5 positions.
The area’s three largest cities set all-time highs for vacancy rates in the downtown districts during the second quarter, with San Francisco at 36.8 percent, Oakland at 31.8 and San Jose at 31.5. Office vacancies in Silicon Valley overall was 19.5 percent.
When it comes to public-sector jobs and elective office, age discrimination is real. Governments would do well to tap into the experience and the particular type of intelligence that people of a certain age can bring to bear.
