Albany— Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget would invest over $18 million in programmes to boost the state government’s underperforming workforce as major agencies face a 12,500-worker gap.
According to predictions issued Wednesday, more than 26% of state government workers are due for retirement within five years, and turnover has surged amid a national labour shortage. In places like New York City, government workers are scarce. 14,375 state workers left since March 2020.
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Hochul proposes linking minimum salary to inflation to improve state government workers. That much-touted measure will affect thousands of state and non-government workers. The budget mandates 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave for public employees.
The budget prioritises remote recruitment training and exams and modernising a job evaluation system to use pay equity rules and “put the state’s employees on a level playing field with the private sector.”
The state will undertake pilot projects to renovate governmental office buildings to promote hybrid work patterns, another concession to privatised industry workplace culture.
The Civil Service Employees Association said Hochul’s ideas will improve recruiting.
CSEA President Mary Sullivan said Gov. Hochul appreciates the value of public service and engaging in recruitment efforts to provide and preserve it. “For too long, the state and municipal workforce has been devastated, making it tougher to provide the services New Yorkers depend on.”
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The State Police, Office of Mental Health, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Motor Vehicles, and Department of Corrections and Community Supervision—many of which will spearhead Hochul’s objectives over the next year—received staffing increases in the budget. They include carbon reduction and cannabis sales and licencing expansion.
A public awareness campaign to highlight state opportunities for young and diverse talent was also suggested. In response to a nursing shortage, a scholarship programme would compel scholarship holders to work in-state for a certain term and pay nursing students’ tuition.
The budget would maintain incentive schemes from previous years, including a relaxation on the income cap for retiring teachers to boost school staffing. Last year’s budget waiver expired this year. For returning retirees, the cap was $35,000.
The budget would expand the health care and mental hygiene worker incentive to $3,000 for frontline state personnel.
Wayne Spence, president of the Public Employees Federation, said the budget plans seemed to reflect the union’s concerns in addressing a chronic workforce shortage aggravated by the pandemic.
“PEF is very pleased that Gov. Hochul advanced a solid strategy to rebuild the state workforce to ensure the continued efficient and effective delivery of all state services,” Spence added.
