The City of Los Angeles is struggling with a labor shortage that could undermine its ability to provide adequate public services.
According to the office of Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, 1 in 6 city positions, or 17% of city jobs, are vacant.
You can see an interactive chart of vacancy counts for each department here.
Struggling departments include tourism, economic and workforce development, finance, building and safety, public works, recreation and parks, and water and power. Even the personnel department, which is responsible for recruiting new workers, has a 15% vacancy rate.
“The aspirations for a safer, cleaner, greener and more equitably prosperous city can’t be supported by a chronically understaffed City workforce,” warned Diana Chang, director of communications for the controller’s office. “There is much work to be done. It is vital that we work on ensuring there are enough committed public service workers to do it.”
The controller has offered the following recommendations:
- Undertake the long-term (and overdue) reform of the Civil Service system which will require constructive dialogue with the City’s labor partners and an eventual vote of the people to amend the City Charter
- Convene a shorter-term task force of city leaders and unions to seek additional creative ways to work within the existing Charter constraints to treat the challenge for what it is: a growing crisis that affects every Angeleno’s safety and well-being
- Build on the success of the Targeted Local Hire and Bridge to Jobs programs to expand the effort to provide a pipeline for local residents to seek and attain rewarding careers in public service
- Invest in the Personnel Department’s staffing, training and technology to augment their capacity to not just fill jobs, but attract and retain the talent needed to serve a 21st Century metropolis
- Streamline City bureaucracy, reform outmoded service models and embrace innovation to raise productivity and improve services to the community
- Partner with the community, civic institutions, the private sector, non—profits and others to more closely collaborate on creative approaches to problem-solving while the City works to rebuild our workforce
- Pursue long-term strategic budget and capital planning that goes beyond a year-to-year time horizon and balances the City’s changing and growing needs with the public staffing, funding and capital investment available to address those needs.
The CaliforniaCityNews.org jobs board is another great tool for cities to use. It’s the most widely-read local government jobs board in California, servicing nearly 1,000 postings a year. Search for a job or post an opening here.