According to new data from NEOGOV, the first three quarters of 2024 show more than 20% growth in applications for commonly filled public sector jobs, but that growth is uneven with some job categories showing impressive application growth while others are still in trouble

The jobs that are currently most difficult to fill include “self-enrichment” teachers, mental health counselors, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses.

These are very much what one might anticipate. But the job category that falls at the very bottom of NEOGOV’s ranking is more of a surprise, given its potential for high remuneration and standing in the community: “The lawyers.” says Sarah Gustafson, vice president of business intelligence and analytics for NEOGOV “are at the very bottom. The percent that apply is very low and you have very low growth (in applications).”

For the job categories that are still experiencing the most hiring trouble, job seekers had a low application growth rate in the first three quarters of 2024.  It’s not necessarily the case that they weren’t being adequately promoted by governments. Rather, many were viewed, by potential applicants, but too few them actually applied.

NEOGOV calls this the View-to-Application Conversion rate. A low rate indicates that job seekers are not interested in the public sector position that’s posted, potentially due to salary considerations, or other factors such as the nature of the job itself, the potential for upward movement, job stress, safety, flexibility or other factors that differ based on occupation.

This was very much the case with lawyers. The high expense of law school and the significant debt load carried by many may make the choice of a public service career particularly difficult, given the lure of work in far better paid private sector jobs.  NEOGOV calculates that only 0.7% of lawyers who view a job posting apply, compared with 4.6% for customer service representatives or 3.8% for firefighters. Of the 80 job categories listed in the NEOGOV analysis, no other job category had a job view-to-conversion rate of less than 1%.

A number of other job categories besides the ones at the very bottom of the NEOGOV list stand out for a poor ratio of those viewing a job to those who actually apply, although the 2024 application growth rates were somewhat better than those at the bottom of the list, with each over 30%, compared with lawyers whose application growth rate was 4%. Other employment seekers who applied for jobs at low levels compared to jobs viewed were: Civil Engineers, Registered Nurses, Automotive Technicians and Repairers, and Rehabilitation Counselors. 

The public sector jobs that appear to be most attractive now are those in a wide variety of tech fields. For example, there was 94% application per job growth for computer and information analysts and 86% growth for Software and Web Developers, Programmers, and Testers.

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