Demand for government jobs

The economic downturn in Ohio has caused an increased supply of candidates for municipal and county government jobs in the State of Ohio. This issue began with the state’s fiscal crisis and has increased with the world economic downturn.

Beginning several years ago the State of Ohio enacted a hiring freeze. Under the hiring freeze, no new positions are created at the agency level. Positions left vacant by personnel changes may still be filled, but oftentimes in the State’s budgetary environment even those positions remain unfilled. This has caused a number of would-be state government jobseekers to seek employment with municipal and county governments within the state. Due to this hiring freeze there is a price ceiling in effect for labor within the state. Unfortunately for those jobseekers, municipal and county governments are also feeling fiscal strain. For the past several years, many local governments in Ohio have been facing a period of soaring costs and stagnant revenues. For example, the cost of road salt, an essential purchase of local governments during the winter months, has risen by approximately thirty percent this year. With increasing costs and stagnant revenues local governments are not expanding services or the size of their staffs and thus there are not many job openings beyond positions vacated by retirements.

In addition to would-be state government jobseekers, members of the private sector workforce who have been laid off are seeking second or third careers in local government administration. After living through the strain of being laid off, workers may find themselves more attracted to government jobs because of the relatively increased job security and attractive benefits package. As discussed, the state is not a viable option for jobseekers right now due to the hiring freeze. Why then local and not federal? Due to the locations of most federal jobs, Ohio jobseekers would need to relocate. For many jobseekers, especially those seeking second or third careers, constraints such as family and home ownership pose barriers to relocation. Thus local government career options pose the most logical solution.