Excerpt:
Orlando Cruz, senior vice president of ICMA-RC, says the layoffs following the Great Recession took years to recover from. “The layoffs, the furloughs, the early retirements we saw then really put states and localities in a hole through next decade to the point where — even before Covid — they had hard time recruiting in certain skill sets,” he said.
Now, he added, “governments are thinking strategically in terms of hiring.” State and local worker layoffs appear to have peaked in April — that’s different from the slow and steady layoffs that occurred over many months during the last recession. “Governments know they have to compete with other sectors for talent,” Cruz said during a call with reporters. What’s more, he said, budget constraints in the coming years will “make it harder to back fill those positions laid off.”
Author(s): Liz Farmer
Publication Date: 27 January 2021
Publication Site: Forbes