MANAGEMENT UPDATE.

THE CHANGING WORLD OF STATE AND LOCAL HR

The 2026 State and Local Workforce Survey by the MissionSquare Research Institute reflects a significant transformation of HR experience as staffs expand and workforce shortages continue to diminish.

Many of the shifts that have taken place in 2026 reflect a transformation of HR experience in the years following the pandemic when workforce shortages were prevalent, retirements accelerated and many governments reacted with pay increases, hiring bonuses and other tools to help fill staff positions.

Since this survey has appeared on an annual basis since 2009, it offers readers the opportunity to examine short and longer-term trends, and the ability to see how external factors affect the HR environment.

In its assessment of key findings, a handful of areas stand out, including the growing ease of recruitment, an increase in workforce size for 44% of respondents, and a hiring environment in which past workforce shortages have been ebbing away. The survey notes that in 2022, “20 positions were identified as hard to fill by at least half of the respondents. This year, for that same set of positions, only seven met that threshold”.

The 2026 results show that Engineering, Policing and Health care: Nursing currently have the most difficult hiring environment.

Figure 14 in the 2026 MissionSquare report shows the percent of respondents that “had a hard time” filling different positions over the past year.

But for nursing and many other positions, a MissionSquare infographic also demonstrates an improvement between 2022 and 2026. For example, 33.6% of survey respondents cited information technology positions as “hard to fill” in 2026, but that compares to 68.7% in 2022 – a drop of nearly 34 percentage points.

The MissionSquare annual survey is produced in partnership with the National Association of State Personnel Executives and the Public Sector HR Association (PSHRA).

Of the 608 HR manager respondents, 75% were from cities and counties, 15% from states and 9% from schools and special districts. While the public announcement of the survey won’t officially be made until mid-September, the 2026 version of the annual survey is already available on the MissionSquare website, as is an accompanying infographic supplement.

In general, most of the responses in this year’s survey have optimistic tone. In terms of employee pay, 65% say their wages are competitive and 92% believe that to be true of their benefits.

In addition, 53% believe their employees are financially prepared for retirement, according to the survey. In contrast, from 2013 to 2023, “most indicated that their staff were not financially prepared for retirement. Since 2024, that metric has exceeded 50% for three years in a row.” As an explanation, the survey cites post-pandemic salary adjustments, improved investment earnings, and other factors, such as financial education initiatives.

But there is some data from this year’s version which would not likely make employees or HR managers celebrate. For example, 30% of HR managers told MissionSquare that “time to hire” has increased in the last year. In addition, a list of 2026 workforce actions shows that 10% of respondents reported having layoffs, compared with 5% in 2024 and 4% in 2025. Hiring freezes also increased from 6% in 2024, to 8% in 2025 and 18% in 2026.

Other observations from 2026 include the following: