Industry News

On July 31, 2019, the Center for State & Local Government Excellence (SLGE) released its survey report, State and Local Government Workforce: 2019 Survey. The report includes 2019 data on emerging issues such as the gig economy (including work that is procured on a temporary or contingent basis), flexible work practices, hiring and recruiting challenges, retirement plan or health benefit changes, and separations from service.

The 2019 survey expands its focus on the gig economy with respondents indicating that gig economy hiring has impacted state and local governments with a 3.6% increase in management flexibility and 10.1% decrease in employee morale.

According to SLGE, state and local governments report that they continue to face significant challenges filling various key positions, such as policing, engineering, maintenance work/labor, skilled trades, information technology, and emergency dispatch. Over the past year, the survey finds that 80% of public employers have hired employees and 54% have hired contract or temporary employees. In addition, 88% of respondents consider that their benefits are competitive in the labor market.

Other key findings include:

• Overall, state and local governments report layoffs have fallen to 7% in 2019, from 42% in 2009. In addition, the growth in longer-term employment predictions is projected to increase to 3.8% for state employees and 7.4% for local employees from 2016 to 2026.
• To encourage employee retention and development, 67% of respondents provide in-house training, 63% provide funds or reimbursement for training/tuition, 59% support wellness programs, 56% provide sick leave benefits, 53% provide onboarding and 21% offer varying forms of paid family leave.
• For current employees, 74% of state and local governments have not made any retirement plan changes in the past year. For new employees, 57% have made no changes. Of those that made changes, some of the most common types include: increases in employee contributions (12% among new employees and 10% among current employees), decreases in pension benefits (11% among new employees and 2% among current employees), increases in pension eligibility requirements (9% for new employees and 2% for current employees), and increases in employer contributions (9% for both new and current employees).
• Only 25% report that their employees are financially prepared for retirement.

The electronic survey was recently conducted among members of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR) and the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE). Of the 335 respondents who participated in the survey, 78% represented local governments, 15% represented state governments, and 7% represented the federal government or non-governmental sectors.

The report is available here.