More state of Wisconsin workers leaving for other jobs

Jason Stein | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Workers left state government last year in numbers not seen in more than at least a decade, taking advantage of a tight labor market and the promise of better jobs in the private sector.

With the economy and opportunities growing, nearly one in seven state workers left their positions for another job, retirement or other reasons, according to data released under the state's open records law. More than one in three personal care aides for the elderly and disabled left their jobs last year.

Wisconsin is not alone in seeing employees leave to take private-sector jobs, said Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives.

"All states are experiencing it," Scott said of the turnover. "A good portion of it, frankly, is compensation. States have just not been able to compete with the market."

In all, 3,981 workers outside the University of Wisconsin System moved on from their state jobs in 2016, which was nearly 11% more than in 2015 and more than twice as many as in 2010. Turnover is also up among UW professors.

Scott said there isn't good data on state employee turnover nationally, but she doesn't believe Wisconsin differs greatly from other states. For instance, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported last month that the turnover rate in Virginia topped 14% in 2016, edging out Wisconsin's departures.

The factors range from retirements of baby boomers to stagnant public employee wages, but one of the biggest challenges is the improving economy and tight labor market.

"With more people working than ever in our state’s history, it’s not a surprise there is a tight labor market in need of more workers. Governor Walker’s priority is to get more people into the workforce through investments in worker training and education," Walker administration spokesman Steve Michels said.

The number of state retirements actually dropped slightly last year. The big increase in departing workers came among state employees who left for other reasons, such as taking another job or having their job eliminated.

The increasing departures come as state salaries have stagnated.

Since 2006, the state has increased state workers' pay by 7.5%, well below the 18.7% increase in inflation over that time, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office. In addition, Walker's 2011 Act 10 legislation required state workers to pay more for their health care and pensions, cutting their take-home pay by an average of 8.5%.

Walker's state budget bill would take a step toward addressing that. The governor proposed spending $59 million to give state workers a 2% raise in each of the next two years — a provision approved unanimously by the Legislature's budget committee on June 16.

Michels said Walker has used "targeted pay increases" to try to fill positions at the prisons, psychiatric institutions and veterans homes run by state agencies. If too many of those jobs are open, taxpayers end up paying overtime.

The highest departure rates came in health care fields, with nearly 38% of personal care workers leaving their state jobs last year.

In a related move, Walker has proposed spending just under $40 million over two years to provide increased payments for personal care workers in state health programs who help the disabled and elderly in their daily lives.

Liz Hecht, an advocate for the disabled, said she doubted that those increases would be enough to help families unable to hire enough personal care workers through state health programs.

"What most people would say is it's not enough to help," said Hecht, who is the co-director of Family Voices of Wisconsin.

During the Great Recession, turnover dropped for states as the unemployment rate shot up and the workers who did have jobs hunkered down and stuck with them.

In 2010, just 1,821 civil servants outside of the UW System left their State of Wisconsin jobs in all categories, from retirements and resignations to terminations, layoffs and death.

But since 2010 the unemployment rate has dropped and the number of departing state workers has increased steadily every year, climbing well above pre-recession levels.

"When the economy is doing better and people have more options, there tends to be more turnover," said Donald Moynihan, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.