Publication
The Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) eligibility workers, some of whom process Medicaid cases and who continue to have high turnover, experienced a drop in their pay a few months before the unprecedented challenge of redetermining more than two million people’s Medicaid eligibility. Pay is a key factor in not just recruiting but also in retaining more staff, which would reduce workloads, strengthen morale and improve the accuracy of eligibility determinations made through DFCS. If the state does not boost pay to address the retention problem at the agency, the state will remain in a vicious cycle of hiring new employees while other staff quit. The instability at DFCS increases the likelihood that many Georgians may lose health coverage because of human error. When people unnecessarily lose Medicaid and then must re-apply for the program, it is detrimental to the state’s bottom line. This boom-and-bust cycle of enrollment increases state administrative costs and creates unpredictable Medicaid expenditures.[1] A failure by the state to invest in its workers also means lower quality customer service for families trying to access other economic supports.
Publication
Every Texan and the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) released a report based on a survey of 217 state employees detailing the conditions in Texas state agencies with historically high turnover. The report, “Low Pay and High Turnover in Texas State Agencies and Universities Cost Us All,” provides insight into the devastating consequences of low pay and high turnover for Texas state employees and those they serve.
Key report findings include:
- 61% of survey respondents report not receiving a wage increase over the past year, despite historically high levels of inflation. The state of Texas has not provided an across-the-board pay increase to the entire state workforce since 2014;
- 56% of survey respondents report considering leaving their job for higher compensation;
- 73% of survey respondents report that staffing levels in their department over the past year have been historically low;
- 71% of survey respondents report that low staffing has affected their agency’s ability to provide clients/facilities/families with quality services;
- Survey respondents report increased workloads as agencies struggle to recruit and retain workers;
- State employees report concerns that rising workloads result in a decline in the quality of services provided to everyday Texans;
- State employees surveyed report emotional stress and in some cases physical harm.
Texas State Employees Union and Every Texan urge the Legislature to begin to address some of the problems detailed in the report by:
- passing HB 202 to guarantee every state employee a salary increase that appropriately addresses decades-long wage stagnation coupled with current inflation.
- passing HB 830 to provide an annual cost of living adjustment to the state pension program and ensure retirement benefits keep pace with current-day costs.
The most powerful elected officials in our state prove that they favor wealthy corporations over everyday Texans by rigging the system against working families of all backgrounds. These same officials give billion-dollar tax giveaways to their friends in high places, while not doing their job to fund or responsibly manage the public goods and services that benefit us all, like public parks, libraries, schools, highways, and more. It’s time for Texas’ elected officials to invest in our common good.
Publication
To chart an equitable course forward for all Floridians, we must first understand the journey that brought us to where we are today. The following publication is the third in FPI’s “Pursue Equity” series, a part of a multi-year research initiative on Florida’s historically discriminatory policies, their evolution, and their impact on all Florida communities today.
Publication
When crisis and calamity take jobs away, the market economy alone cannot provide working people the help they need to make ends meet. That is where the Texas Unemployment Insurance system comes in. While the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, overwhelming the Texas Workforce Commission’s ability to serve applicants on a timely basis, it has also exposed structural weaknesses in the system. The millions of workers who lost jobs through layoffs or furloughs have had extraordinary difficulty applying for and accessing benefits. To modernize a critical earned benefit and better serve the needs of Texans, the Texas AFL-CIO and Every Texan (formerly known as the Center for Public Policy Priorities) propose the following reforms.
