Workforce Resources

The report, Meeting Demand for State and Local Public Finance Jobs, from GFOA and Lightcast shows demand for state and local public finance officers is outstripping the current supply of workers in the sector. Increasing the pace of hiring and the breadth of recruitment will be necessary to reverse the growing gap between supply and demand.

As demand for public finance officers grows, local governments are facing challenges in recruiting and retaining top talent. Governments are also dealing with the prospect of a wave of retirements, which is expected to exacerbate the shortage of public finance officers. In this current environment, the use of virtual CFOs and just-in-time talent is becoming an increasingly popular option.

Common wisdom has it that people aren’t attracted to jobs in the public sector for the pay—but compensation appears to be a fundamental problem in hanging onto personnel. According to a 2022 MissionSquare Research Institute survey, 51 percent of human resource professionals in local and state government said exit surveys revealed that uncompetitive compensation was among employees’ top three reasons for leaving.

A local government’s staff deliver the day-to-day services that provide for the health, safety, and welfare of the community. Employee engagement is the degree to which an employee is passionate about and committed to their job and organization. If staff are fully engaged in their jobs, then they will put in the extra effort needed to provide the best services possible.