Career ladders offer a structured pathway for employees to advance in their careers by meeting specific education, certification, and performance requirements. These programs help entry-level workers gain the skills needed to progress into intermediary and leadership roles within their organizations. By providing a clear progression path, career ladders enhance staff recruitment, development, and retention while…
The size of the US public health workforce has markedly declined in recent years, a trend exacerbated by economic instability and an aging demographic. There was a temporary surge in staffing through emergency hires during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the permanence of these positions remains uncertain. Concurrently, public health degree conferrals have sharply increased, creating…
The public health workforce is in a critical state, with the current supply being unsustainable at best and dire at worst. Based on data from 2017 and 2019, health departments needed to hire 80,000 full-time employees to provide basic public health foundational services even before the onset of COVID-19. The situation has likely worsened due…
Community health workers (CHWs) have critical importance in health departments as they often share the same cultural background (ethnicity and language), socioeconomic status, and life experiences as members of underserved communities. This shared culture increases the level of trust between the community and health department. However, as a professional group, CHWs face several challenges related…
The local, state, and Tribal government public health workforce is the backbone of the US public health infrastructure, providing services crucial to health, safety, and national biosecurity. To determine whether the workforce can provide needed services, we must understand how many individuals are in this workforce, what they do, how much they get paid, and…
Since 1883, the United States has had civil service laws in place to prevent cronyism and insulate public employees from political influence. Critics argue that such laws impose an undue burden on managers with regard to hiring and dismissing employees. Given that governmental public health agencies have experienced longstanding challenges in recruiting individuals at the…
Nurses have been the backbone of the US governmental public health system, constituting the largest professional group within the public health workforce. However, while the overall governmental public health workforce has seen a significant decrease in size, the public health nursing (PHN) workforce has been particularly affected. This article addresses gaps in understanding the public…
Salary disparities emphasize the urgency of rectifying pay inequities in public health occupations. However, many public health positions are governed by state employee pay structures that cannot be changed for only one agency. Given the challenges of increasing governmental pay just for public health, additional approaches are needed for public health recruitment and retention that…
Local, state, tribal, and territorial government public health departments in the United States act as the front-line against disease, but are severely understaffed. Although there are other factors that can attract job candidates, salary is known to be paramount in recruitment competition, including public health. While previous studies have compared salaries between different occupations within…
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed public health infrastructure gaps and the need for a strong public health workforce capable of supporting population health and promoting health equity. One of the major causes of the infrastructure gaps is ongoing public health workforce shortages. Recruiting and retaining public health employees and ensuring they have necessary skills are vital…
