Public Sector Faces Talent Shortage

With “Unemployment at Generation Low” headlines becoming a Friday jobs report tradition, the public sector has struggled to attract new talent in an ultra tight labor market.

Run the numbers: For every new hire in the public sector in June, there were two more job openings, the NYT reports. That’s up from 1.7 a year earlier and trounces the 1.2 ratio of job openings to new hires in the private sector.

It’s the perfect storm of factors:

1. After the recession put loads of retirement plans on ice, the decade-long economic expansion has thawed them out—and thinned out workforces.
2. It’s hard to beat private-sector startups’ cold brew on tap, but it’s harder to beat their salaries. Only 56% of state and local agencies think they pay competitively.
3. And it doesn’t help that most state governments have balanced-budget requirements, meaning they can’t spend more than they make.

Zoom out: This shortage of talent means the public sector (home to both schools and police departments) is often bringing in subpar fits for superdays or running short-staffed.