AWC conducts the City Conditions Survey annually to find out how cities are doing and what their needs are for the coming year. We leverage this valuable tool in our advocacy, to determine city priorities, and understand what issues cities are facing.  While we focus on HR & labor relations below, you can check out the overall 2023 CCS results report here.

The last several years have seen cities struggle to fill vacancies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and so-called “Great Resignation.” This year remains a tough labor market for cities. Last year, 72% of cities reported that they were struggling to fill vacancies. In 2023, 2/3 of cities still say they are struggling to fill vacancies. Difficulty in hiring is especially pronounced for large cities (50,000+ population, 93% reported difficulty) and medium-sized cities (5,000 – 50,000 population, 83% reporting difficulty).

As city HR departments are familiar, the difficulty recruiting is not evenly spread across the city workforce. The top departments that cities struggle to recruit for have been consistent for several years. In 2023, those departments were once again:

1. Police (83% reporting difficulty)
2. Public works (61%)
3. General government & administration (41%)
4. Community development / Planning (38%)
5. Finance (32%)

To address these challenges, some cities are trying different means to entice workers to hire on or remain with cities. 56% of cities were offering some form of incentive (hiring bonuses, premium pay/raises, remote work, etc.). 26% of cities reported that they were offering remote work.

Notably, this year, only 35% of cities reported they were experiencing a higher-than-normal number of retirements and resignations over the past year, down from 47% in 2022. Unsurprisingly, cities reported that the departments most impacted by retirements and resignations were also largely the ones hardest to recruit for: Police, Public works, General government & administration, and Finance.

Individual question results

Difficulty recruiting: Struggling to fill vacancies? (129 responses)

Hardest departments to recruit for: Which departments in your city are struggling to fill vacancies: (85 responses)

Incentives: Is your city offering incentives to address recruitment challenges? (123 responses)

Retirements: Has your city experienced higher-than-normal resignations/retirements in the last year? (129 responses)

Impacted departments: Which departments are most impacted by resignations or retirements? (114 responses)