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.
DHS is using federal funds to reimburse local police who partner with ICE, a policy that could reshape law enforcement in rural communities with limited staffing and resources.
A federal judge has approved a settlement between the state and 54 residents who had been on a work-release program but lost COVID-related unemployment benefits when the pandemic stopped their work opportunity.
Despite surviving several COVID-related challenges, some businesses are closing due to monthly rent increases, landlord disputes and hiring difficulties. Only about 65 percent of small businesses are currently profitable.
The root cause of the problem is a longstanding overall lack of respect for teachers and their craft, which is reflected by decades of low pay, hyperscrutiny and poor working conditions.
Five unions representing hundreds of thousands of health-care workers across California are attacking a legislative deal that would delay expansions on seismic safety standards to increase workers’ minimum wage.
New research found that improving gender equity across the state would increase the state’s income by $15.4 billion and would create 59,000 new jobs. Women earn less than men in every county except Greene.
The voter-approved Maine Technology Asset Fund awarded private companies with grants to help create new jobs and boost the state’s economy. But after five years, it’s unclear how impactful the investments have actually been.
The U.S. Census Bureau found that nearly half of adults ages 55 to 66 had no personal retirement savings in 2017. But a state-sponsored private retirement auto-IRA savings program could give many retiring Kansans a break.
The economy keeps adding them by the hundreds of thousands. But those big numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Tens of millions of Americans now work remotely on a full-time basis. Relocation incentives are helping to redefine the concept of “suburb.”
The number of vacant, state government positions has increased by more than 700 jobs in the last year, despite a 5.5 percent salary increase for all state workers that was approved by the Legislature and governor last year.
LaToya Cantrell announced last week that hundreds of unfilled government positions could get permanently cut to help pay for an across-the-board pay increase for the city workforce. But many worry about understaffing issues being exacerbated.
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NASCIO’s 2022 State CIO Top Priorities list, for the first time in over a decade, didn’t include costs and budgeting. No. 7 in this year’s list is workforce, but in truth, the entire list reflects the fact that everything about work — the where, why and how — is changing rapidly. Here, we’ll look at the trends shaping the future of work in government.
While the Washington state county’s employment numbers continue to improve, a look at the civilian labor force shows the region still has not fully recovered from the impacts of the pandemic.
The power in the labor market has shifted from employer to employee in the last year or so, allowing workers to be more firm in their demands, like the option to work remotely. Many think a recession would unlikely change those dynamics.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to hire non-citizens, with some exceptions. There were about 880,000 non-citizens living in L.A. County in 2018.
The state has recovered nearly all jobs lost early during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there has been a distinct change in the job landscape, which has caused near record-high job openings across Maine.
Several local governments across the state will implement four-day workweeks as a way to attract workers who are returning to the post-pandemic workforce and seeking better work-life balance.
Staff shortages and a rush to distribute funds generated confusion and mistakes, resulting in unemployment benefit overpayments to thousands of Alabamians. Now, the state wants its money back.
It has grown dramatically in the last decade, with the biggest increases in cybersecurity and user support. Salaries have grown too, but are still behind what the private sector pays its IT workers.
The state’s Wage Theft Task Force has helped 265 workers to recoup pay over the last two-and-a-half years during the pandemic and has brought charges against a dozen businesses for wage fraud.
Pandemic-related resignations and retirements have resulted in approximately 4,000 vacancies in budgeted city positions, which has caused complications for the delivery of basic city services.
One percent of city workers were placed on leave this month for failing to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate and 1 in 6 public safety workers have requested exemption from the requirement.
The tech district known as Cortex promised that its training programs would add economic vitality to the region. But as a September deadline approaches, it’s unclear how much support the city’s aldermen will offer.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia has said that his precinct’s pilot program, which paid participants $15 an hour to clean public spaces, was a success and will expand countywide with a $2.1 million budget.
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009. In the absence of action from Congress and state legislatures, local governments are adding capacity to their programs to support workers.
Dozens of city workers failed to comply with the weekly COVID-19 testing requirement and, therefore, could be at risk of termination. City officials said workers were given multiple opportunities to comply.
As the list of companies pledging to cover their employees’ abortion-related expenses continues to grow, some wonder if the employee will have to sacrifice privacy to access the financial benefits.
Companies across the nation have vowed to support access to abortion for their employees, sometimes offering as much as $10,000 to cover abortion-related expenses, but plans are unclear for how the coverage would play out.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development said that it cannot access jobless claims data to make weekly unemployment benefit payments for 12,000 workers.
The California law, which makes it harder for companies to classify workers as contractors to legally guarantee minimum wages, overtime pay and compensation benefits, was challenged by freelance groups.
