California state government is making it easier to get a job in public service as its vacancies rise amid historically low unemployment.

Department recruiters are showing up in underserved and rural areas and hosting rapid-hire events along with its recruitment at colleges and the other usual places, said Brandon Littlejohn, CalHR’s state recruitment coordinator.

The recruiters are targeting workers who have been laid off from private sector jobs, those with developmental disabilities and others who might have been overlooked in the past, Littlejohn said.

“We’re trying to get the word out about our vacancies,” Littlejohn said.

And the state is catching up to 21st century technology in its recruiting. A new state law started requiring departments to post all state jobs online starting in 2017, and the state is allowing applicants more opportunities to submit information online instead of in person.

Low unemployment

Unemployment in California topped 12 percent in 2010, during the depths of the Great Recession, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Unemployment now stands at 3.9 percent in the state, the lowest rate in 40 years. California is in the same position as other employers trying to find workers in a tight labor market, yet the state has less flexibility in what it can offer potential employees.

“In a thriving economy, and especially a thriving regional economy like Sacramento has, the ability to attract workers to public service is harder when the economy is doing well,” said Michael Shires, an associate professor of public policy at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. “Private sector makes up for it with bigger salaries.”

About 9,000 more people work for California state government than did five years ago, but the state still has about 31,000 unfilled jobs, according to payroll records.

In December 2014, the state had 223,422 workers and 25,386 unfilled positions, a vacancy rate of about 11 percent, according to payroll records. In December 2019, it had 232,328 workers and 31,231 unfilled jobs for a vacancy rate of about 13 percent.

The government itself has been in a period of growth, so more new positions are being added even as departments fill vacancies.

“It’s something you’d expect to grow when state government is growing and the number of positions is growing,” said Jeff Michael, a University of the Pacific professor of public policy.

Competition in hiring

In addition to competing with the private sector, California state government competes with local governments and the federal government. The state pays considerably better than other governments for some jobs and much less than its peers for others.

State recruiters pitch their jobs as meaningful and fulfilling, Littlejohn said.

“We have mission-driven work,” he said. “We tell people you can find a job that you’re passionate about.”

The state also offers benefit packages known for their generosity — most specifically, a pension after retirement, which is virtually nonexistent in the private sector. The state also offers good health insurance and stronger job protections than the private sector.

“It’s a huge reason why they apply for the state of California — stability, retirement, health benefits,” Littlejohn said.

But local and federal governments also offer rich benefits, and nonprofits pitch meaningful work too, said Shires.

And good benefits are less appealing to young workers than they are to middle-aged workers, he said.

In 2018, the average California state worker was 46 years old with 13 years of state service, according to CalHR data. Just 12 percent of state workers were under 30, according to the data.

About 10,600 state workers retired in the last fiscal year, an increase from the year prior, according to CalPERS data and its annual financial report.

“The public sector definitely has a workforce recruiting issue in the long run,” he said.

Some state departments took a little while to come into compliance with the 2017 requirement to post their jobs online, but all jobs should be posted online now, said CalHR spokesman Andrew LaMar.

Job openings

The jobs are posted at jobs.ca.gov. About 3,800 job postings appear on the website — far fewer than the number of vacancies.

LaMar said many things factor into the discrepancy, including that one post can be used to hire for multiple jobs under one classification. For example, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation could hire multiple correctional officers based on responses to one posting.

Additionally, departments don’t have to re-advertise a new opening if a job with the same title has been advertised within 180 days. And departments can promote workers to new positions without posting jobs, he said.

Among departments with more than 500 workers, some of those with the most vacancies are the Department of Developmental Services, the Housing and Community Development Department, the Air Resources Board, the Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Child Support Services.

Those departments have vacancy rates of 23 percent to 54 percent, according to State Controller’s Office data.

During the Great Recession, state jobs were so in-demand that the State Personnel Board started tallying numbers of applicants on eligibility lists the state keeps to draw workers from outside government into state service. In 2012, about 203,000 people were on the eligibility lists.

Some jobs remain in-demand today.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which has about 6,000 vacancies, has about 9,000 candidates in varying stages of the correctional officer selection process, corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in an email.

About 450 candidates have cleared the selection process and and are awaiting acceptance into the corrections academy, Thornton said.

The candidates came from a pool of 24,451 applicants in 2019. The department employs about 62,000 people.

California Highway Patrol has 164 eligible applicants on its list for the CHP academy and 496 awaiting background checks, spokeswoman Fran Clader said in an email.