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.
Fewer open positions stem from budget cuts and disappearing federal relief funds, not from solving the state’s chronic recruitment and retention challenges.
The package of deals will include annual raises of between 3.25 to 4 percent over the next several years. The city says that it has now resolved more than three-quarters of the contracts that were pending when Mayor Adams took office last year.
Researchers from Columbia University visited five states to see how they were using money from the American Rescue Plan to build their public health workforces. They found that politics might matter even more than dollars.
For many lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender workers, having to stand up for yourself is nothing new, making unionizing the logical next step. By the end of last year, union filings were up more than 17 percent in the Chicago area.
The legislation may force out workers without legal residency due to increased fines and felony charges. Within Florida, 37 percent of workers in agriculture, 23 percent in construction and 14 percent in service jobs are immigrants.
A shortage of accountants and auditors has left dozens of municipalities without credit ratings, and new financial reporting requirements are likely to make things worse. There are ways to tackle this skill set supply chain problem.
The state is facing more than a dozen lawsuits involving at least 180 ex-employees who were allegedly forced from their jobs after asserting religious or other objections to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
State Sen. Tom Davis wants to eliminate college degree requirements for the majority of state-classified jobs, though no legislation has yet been proposed in the House and it’s unclear if such a bill would pass.
While reports of low unemployment and increasing wages are typically good news to the labor force, workers are still experiencing burnout, challenging hiring processes and concerns about caregiving, health and transportation.
Disjointed data systems are failing to identify and address disparities along the pre-K-to-work continuum. Two states are leading the way in building effective systems, and a new resource can help governments use data to inform student success strategies.
Teacher attrition is up in schools across the state as fewer students are choosing to study education at the collegiate level. Schools are searching for ways to fill the gaps, including increasing educator pay.
Governments have more than a million job vacancies. Many of those positions need the kind of problem-solving that tech workers are likely to embrace and excel at.
About one-fifth of U.S. workers are family caregivers and nearly one-third have quit a job because of their caregiving responsibilities. While remote work offers more flexibility, it’s no substitute for long-term care policy solutions.
Momentum for a four-day workweek has been building and some companies have begun to implement the schedule. Employers and employees have found success with the model and may never go back to the traditional five days.
The Tennessee city is one of 16 across the nation selected to participate in a partnership that will help train workers for emerging industries, to diversify the talent pool and uplift underserved communities.
Attracting more people with four-year degrees — and more women — into policing is likely to produce better outcomes. Among other things, they are less likely to draw complaints and use force.
The state House approved a bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Division to raise its minimum fines, in some cases, by more than 1,000 percent for violating workplace safety rules.
The program is aimed at both union leaders and rank-and-file members and will focus on what unions should do before a walkout, how to prepare financially for going without pay, what to do on the picket line and more.
Approximately 20 percent of American workers have admitted to using recreational drugs while working remotely, and there has been an increase in working age Americans with substance use disorders since pre-pandemic.
A bill proposed by state Democrats would provide assistance to striking workers, despite unemployment benefits historically being restricted to those who lost their jobs through layoffs and corporate downsizing.
A proposal would expand the “ban the box” concept to the private sector, barring most contractors who do business with the city-parish from asking job applicants about their criminal history until late in the hiring process.
Several out-of-state manufacturers in the housing industry have announced plans to move to the state, citing Connecticut’s impressive talent pool of skilled workers. Currently, 162,800 workers have jobs in manufacturing in the state.
While some pandemic-related gaps and inequities in child-care access have been resolved, high cost and low availability continue to strain families across the state, creating barriers for many trying to return to the workforce.
Technical fixes can help, but there are other ways governments can make public service more attractive. Here are four promising approaches.
The Cuyahoga County Council is considering legislation that would bar businesses that have engaged in wage theft or payroll fraud from contracting with the county and will require contractors to undergo ethics training.
While most wealth gaps are part of entrenched racial disparities from generations ago, employee-owned co-ops, like the Atlanta-based Pecan Milk Cooperative, allow employees to build assets within their work.
The share of 16- to 19-year-olds not working is up 22.4 percentage points since 2021. Eleven states have sought to loosen child labor laws to help fill empty positions.
The nation’s second largest school district and the teacher’s union have reached a tentative agreement that would avert the possibility of a second strike this year. The agreement includes raises for several position types and reduced classroom size.
The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office predicts that labor market conditions will remain tight through 2025, prompting some employers to turn to foreign workers through federal immigration programs for help.
In 2021, the share of manufacturing employees across the state who were younger than 45 years old was at its highest level in at least a decade, at more than 52 percent. Some hope the negative stereotypes about the industry are changing.
As the work-from-home revolution shows signs of creating a “two-tiered system” of public employment, government employees who can’t do their jobs remotely are going to expect to be paid a premium.
