POOR PLANNING AND AGING WORK FORCE WILL LEAVE STATES
SCRAMBLING FOR EMPLOYEES
AFT Reports Hold Grim Warnings for Public Services

DENVER – An aging work force, inadequate compensation, and lack of planning will leave nearly every state government with critically low pools of employees to provide essential public services, according to two AFT Public Employees reports released today at the National Conference of State Legislators.

"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."

The two reports released at the state legislators’ conference are Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention and AFT Public Employees Compensation Survey.

Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention finds that a massive wave of baby-boom retirements, exacerbated by raids on public reserves, cutbacks due to budget shortfalls and a major drop in the economy will leave states short of essential employees. The most skilled and expert employees will be gone from public service, and vital resources will be drained from government programs, the report said. Forty-five percent of all government employees are eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report further contends that public employee unions, state legislators, government administrators and those setting the course for government policy must 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 the results of a recent survey of 500 public employees across the nation conducted by Peter Hart Associates. Highlights:

• The report found 57 percent of respondents indicated that retaining qualified employees in their agency is a major or moderate problem, while 61 percent said recruiting qualified employees is 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 recruitment and retention problems.

• The report found 65 percent of respondents said they would be very likely or fairly likely to retire if their employer offered a financially attractive early retirement option.

• Turnover at every level of government is increasing. In some areas of the country, nearly one-fifth of the public work force turns over each year.

• Turnover costs to state governments are increasing, the report found. The cost for a state to hire and train a replacement can be as high as 150 percent of the employee’s annual salary when lost productivity is factored in. Texas, for example, spent $254 million on employee turnover in 2000.

• The median age of the labor force has risen from 34.8 years in 1978 to 38.7 years in 1998. By 2008, the median age of the work force is projected to be 40.7 years.

• The diversity of services provided by state governments vastly surpasses the range of products and services offered by any private business, the report said. This will require an even more diverse and well-educated public employee 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 is the only survey of its kind to show the stark salary and benefits inequities between jobs in public and private employment and among states. The report demonstrates a direct correlation between states that are hemorrhaging public employees and these states’ relatively 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.

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