A January report from the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor focused on the large number of long-term state vacancies, which it defined “as any position vacant for at least six months as of August 6, 2025.”

At that point, the audit found there were 8,845 long-term state vacancies, in the agencies it evaluated, which adds up to 11 percent of the state’s workforce and 1.6 percent of the state’s budget, the equivalent of over $1 billion in lapsed salaries. 

For states that are interested in keeping their books in line with reality, this kind of money can be a concern. As the audit states, “many of these positions are funded by state appropriations and receipts and those dollars can be used by agencies for other purposes.”

In fact, some nine percent of long-term vacancies are kept purposefully vacant, the auditors found, stating that “state agencies admitted to purposely keeping 773 of 8,845 long-term vacancies vacant, largely in an effort to generate lapsed salary to cover operational expenses and other costs.”

Though this is a corollary impact of this large number of vacancies, by and large state agencies aren’t hanging onto them to form a slush fund, but rather because they’ve had difficulties filling them at all, largely because “of low compensation, followed by slow administrative processes,” according to the audit.

As it explained, “correctional officers, nursing assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and youth counselors are paid at a lower rate by the State of North Carolina according to a comparative analysis of other states. . . These positions make less than the national average and less than many of the states surrounding North Carolina.

These state agencies are constantly recruiting for these positions but because of the low compensation and high qualifications needed for these jobs, filling positions and keeping talent long-term is difficult.”

One solution, offered by the audit, would be “eliminating some existing long-term vacancies and redistributing the associated lapsed salaries to the remaining vacancies and currently filled positions.”

In any case, the audit recommends that:

• “State agency budgets should accurately reflect the actual expenditures necessary to deliver services and fulfill statutory responsibilities to North Carolina.”

• “Tracking and reporting lapsed salary usage should be improved.” 

• “Any position that meets certain criteria should be eliminated.” This includes eliminating positions that state agencies have “kept purposefully vacant,” and positions that have been vacant for multiple years. 

• “Eliminate positions never posted and unexplained.”

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