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For the first time in Governor Bill Haslam's administration, the number of people applying for jobs with the state is going down, not up. And that's after instituting pay-for-performance and adjusting the salaries of some of the state's lowest paid jobs.
"Our applications — for the first time since I've been in this role — are beginning to trend down," Human Resources Commissioner Rebecca Hunter said during budget hearings Monday.
She told the governor she wants to do more work on making sure pay is competitive.
"As the economy has picked back up, people can be more thoughtful about where they choose to work," she said. "When you combine that with the fact that 28 percent of our employees are currently eligible to retire, we wanted to make sure that we were actually positioned to recruit."
Hunter says the state is having particular difficulty filling IT and nursing jobs.
Since taking office, Haslam has moved away from the traditional pension plan for state workers. New hires now get retirement plans more like the private sector where the benefits depend more on the stock market. The overall number of government positions has also been cut by 5 percent or roughly 3,000 jobs.
Despite it being Election Day, Governor Haslam's budget hearings continue Tuesday, with the heads of corrections, K-12 education and colleges and universities presenting their rough spending plans for the coming year.
Copyright 2016 WPLN News
