Where will tomorrow's public service employees come from?

July 25 2002 - Two reports released at the state legislators' conference - Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention and AFT Public Employees Compensation Survey - show that aging workforces, inadequate compensation, and lack of planning will leave almost every state government with critically low pools of employees to provide essential public services.

"States can't ignore this crisis any longer. In fewer than 10 years, states will lose their best employees while the supply of people interested in these jobs runs dry," said Jim McGarvey, chair of AFT Public Employees, the 100,000-member public employee division of the American Federation of Teachers. "States are barely getting by now, and they should be actively recruiting the best talent and making sure public service jobs are attractive to these people."

Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention says that states will be left short of essential employees as a consequence of:

- a massive wave of baby-boom retirements, exacerbated by raids on public reserves;
- cutbacks due to budget shortfalls;
- a major drop in the economy

According to the report, the most skilled and expert employees will be gone from public service, and vital resources will be drained from government programs. To support this view, the report quotes U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections which show that 45% of all government employees are eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years.

It also argues that public employee unions, state legislators, government administrators and those setting the course for government policy need to act now to address the clear threat facing quality public services.

"There are two problems here. One is that while there's a gratifying sense of altruism with public employment, it doesn't pay the bills like similar jobs in the private sector. Also, when the availability and quality of public services are reduced, everyone loses," said Jo Romero, president of the Colorado Federation of Public Employees and a 20-year employee of the state of Colorado.

Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention is based on results from a recent survey of 500 public employees across the US conducted by Peter Hart Associates. Main findings include:

57% of respondents said that retention of qualified employees was a major or moderate problem in their agency. 61% indicated that recruiting qualified employees was a major or moderate problem. Low pay and the need for more professional or career development opportunities were cited most often as the reasons for these problems.

65% of respondents said they would be very likely or fairly likely to retire if offered a financially attractive early retirement option.

* Staff turnover is increasing at every level of government with almost one-fifth of the public work force turning over each year in some areas of the country.

* Turnover costs are rising. Texas alone spent $254 million on employee turnover in 2000. In fact, the report says that it costs a state as much as 150% of an employee's annual salary when lost productivity is factored in.

* The median age of the nation's workforce rose from 34.8 years in 1978 to 38.7 years in 1998 and is projected to reach 40.7 years by 2008.

* The report says that state government services are far more diverse than the range of products and services offered by any private company. This means that the public sector requires an even more diverse and well-educated work force.

"Inadequate compensation packages are making it more difficult to encourage young people to enter public service and keep the high-quality, experienced employees. There indeed is a quiet crisis rippling across the country that must be addressed," McGarvey said.

The AFT Public Employees Compensation Survey reveals the major salary and benefits inequities between jobs in public and private employment and among states. It shows a direct correlation between states that are 'hemorrhaging public employees' and these states' comparatively low pay and other compensation packages.

"We hope union officials, state legislators and government administrators use the survey to compare wages job by job and examine changes taking place across the country for specific job titles," McGarvey said.