Home


IPMA-HR Public Sector Hiring Survey Results Available

IPMA-HR members were asked about their hiring plans for 2008 and most indicated that they expect to hire for new positions. Seventy-three percent of members indicated they plan to hire for new positions and only 27 percent said they did not.

Despite the news reports of a slowing economy, these numbers are similar to those reported by IPMA-HR members in past years. Below are the percentages of respondents who indicated they planned to hire for new positions in past years.

  • 2007 – 75% of respondents indicated they plan to hire for new positions
  • 2006 – 68% of respondents indicated they plan to hire for new positions
  • 2005 – 75% of respondents indicated they plan to hire for new positions

Of those who expect to be hiring, the number represents a fairly small part of the workforce. Thirty-six percent of respondents said the new positions would represent less than one percent of their total workforce, nearly 30 percent said the new positions would represent between one and three percent of the workforce, and eight percent said the number of new positions would represent between three and five percent of the workforce.

However, some respondents indicated that they would be hiring for a significant number of positions. Nearly seven percent of respondents said they were hiring for between five and 10 percent of the workforce and just over three percent of respondents said it would represent more than 10 percent of the workforce.

As in the past, the number-one area for hiring is public safety, with 45 percent of respondents indicating they planned to hire in this area; in 2007 that number was 50 percent, in 2006 it was 41 percent, and in 2005 it was 31 percent.

Following public safety, and following the patterns of past years, other areas of hiring included public works (30 percent) and finance/management (non-HR), at 24 percent. Parks and recreation was nearly 17 percent, and HR was 15 percent. These percentages add up to more than 100 because agencies expect to be hiring in more than one area.

Again, despite the economy, only 12 percent of respondents expect to be conducting layoffs during 2008. This is a number similar to past years.

  • 2007 – 12 percent indicated they would be conducting layoffs
  • 2006 – 16 percent indicated they would be conducting layoffs
  • 2005 – 18 percent indicated they would be conducting layoffs

The number of layoffs represents a small proportion of the workforce, with most respondents (11 percent) indicating the number of anticipated layoffs will represent less than one percent of the workforce.

For those with vacancies, most respondents (26 percent) indicated that those vacancies represent less than one percent of the workforce and many (20 percent) indicated that the number of vacancies represent between two and three percent of the workforce. Thirty-one percent of respondents with vacancies indicated they are deliberately holding them open due to budgetary reasons. This number is also similar to past years.

  • 2007 – 32 percent are holding the positions open due to budgetary reasons
  • 2006 – 39 percent are holding the positions open due to budgetary reasons
  • 2005 – Data not available

The 2008 Hiring Outlook Survey was conducted between January 7 and 14, 2008, and 548 individuals responded to the survey.