“We're pretty, short-staffed- I think we're supposed to have 25 budgeted positions, and right now we are down to about six.”
Across the country, conversations of worker shortages have made headlines, from short-staffing at minimum-wage food service jobs, to mid-pandemic hospital staff shortages. Government work is not exempt from these labor concerns, and in fact, government agencies across the country are experiencing historical gaps in staffing, even as private sector jobs rebound. We spoke to Brian Bonnano, a former city planner about why shortages in local government positions persist, and what it means for the efficacy of government offices.
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts using research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The city is struggling to hire people- the issue is that the benefits of a stable city job are not as attractive as they once were. Unfortunately, in government work, you're not very well paid. Additionally, some of the other amenities or benefits that people are looking for, especially after COVID, are just not there,”
Brian sees a disconnect between a younger incoming workforce and the structure of city work, which rewards worker loyalty over sign-on benefits.
“Traditionally the benefit is that if you stay in a city job for 25 years, you get a great pension. The problem is that people don't really stay in jobs that long anymore. There are a lot of other quality of life benefits that they're really looking for. So, if you’re underpaid, and aren’t receiving some of the other benefits either, it becomes really difficult to attract and retain workers. Toward the end of my time with the city, we were posting jobs and getting no applicants.”
This change has also been noted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a recent report that focused on age demographics and job tenure relationships. The BLS found that overall tenure in public sector jobs was twice that of private sector positions, and the proportion of workers over the age of 35 was higher in the public sector than it was in the private sector.
Not only do these shortages create long-term concern for government agencies, they also put strain on the current workforce, which contributes to worker burnout.
“In my division it felt like we were getting pulled in a million different directions and we were trying to fill every gap. We could see lots of gaps, but we're overextended as it is. We're short-staffed and it would be better to show people that we were really skilled at one thing instead of trying to do it all.”
As a cycle of public sector workers begin to retire, concerns of worker attraction and retention arise. Will governments be able to meet the interests and demands of a new workforce in time to garner support for resilience building programs? Will there be enough laborers to fulfill the needs of public infrastructure amidst COVID-19 Build Back Better initiatives? Brian is optimistic, but recognizes that significant changes need to happen for this to work.
“I think they’ll come out of this, but it's going to take some time and it's going to take reorganization, and restructuring the way that city government operates.”
Is your team facing worker shortages? What are they doing to change this?