2024 State of the Evidence: Employment Choices of Recent Public Health Graduates

Throughout the COVID-19 response and into the current recovery period, demand for new public health staff has been relatively high. Increased funding and need has created an opportunity to expand the public health workforce to levels not seen over the past 15 years. More students are receiving public health degrees than ever before. Given that…

Public Health Occupations and the Standard Occupational Code System

The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is the federal standard for categorizing occupation data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) gathers data using SOC codes to help with enumeration, wage data, occupational exposures data, and other workforce analyses. However, the data currently presented through programs such as the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)…

Composition of the Public Health Workforce: Distribution, Training, and Tenure

Local health departments play a critical role in promoting the overall health and well-being of communities across the country, and influxes of response-related funding and attention make it challenging to build and sustain a consistent and well-trained public health workforce. Local public health is increasingly being asked to do more for growing populations with diverse…

A Holistic and Sustainable Approach to Public Health Staffing and Workforce Development

Understaffing is a chronic public health challenge. Ensuring a sustainable public health workforce requires innovative recruitment and retention strategies. Recommended strategies include holistic recruitment efforts in collaboration with community and academic partners, enhanced leadership training, staff compensation reviews, flexible work arrangements, and worker wellbeing initiatives. This article discusses the creation of the “Putting Our People…

Salary and Job Requirement Differences for Jobs in Local and State Health Departments Versus the Private Sector: Analysis of Large-Scale Job Postings Data

The governmental public health workforce, especially in state and local health departments, is significantly short-staffed, and labor market competition for public health graduates and others with high-demand skills can make recruitment and retention challenging. While some research shows that public health workers generally earn less than those in similar jobs in other sectors, federal data…

Racial and Ethnic Representation of the Local Public Health Workforce

As the United States becomes increasingly racially and ethnically diverse and strives to address longstanding health inequities, it is important to consider the racial and ethnic makeup of public servants and the communities they serve, particularly in governmental public health agencies. This article describes the racial and ethnic representativeness of the local health department workforce…

Expanding Options to Recruit, Grow, and Retain the Public Health Workforce

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…

Exploring the Geospatial Variations in the Public Health Workforce: Implications for Diversifying the Supply of Potential Workers in Governmental Settings

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…

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