Young Workers Leaving Their Government Jobs

If the assumption is that the new Generation X workers are going to be taking over state government jobs, recent statistics show this isn’t the case. According to a recent study performed by the Texas State Auditor’s Office, workers between 16 and 29 years old are leaving their government jobs faster than any other age group of the 2013 calendar year, according to Culture Map Houston. State government is actually one of the biggest and most important employers in Austin, Texas, providing some struggles with this important workforce leaving their jobs. Workers under 30 make up about 15 percent of the workforce in state government offices, but they also make up 30 percent of people that left these agencies between fall of 2012 and fall of 2013.

Changes With the Millennial Generation

While 30 percent seems like a scary number of people leaving government jobs in such a limited age group, it’s not actually a surprise to local Texas state governments. In fact, it is somewhat better than previous years. In 2008, that number was 40 percent, 33 percent in 2009 and 2010, back down to 30 percent in 2011, up to 31 percent in 2012, and now back down to 30 percent. It shows a significant and common trend among Generation Y, or Millennials, that aren’t interested in keeping their jobs with the local state government. Every year, the numbers for their age group leaving government jobs weren’t even close to the other age groups of people quitting in the industry.

The Numbers

If you aren’t sure exactly how many employees makes up 30 percent, here are some more numbers to better understand what this means. In 2013 alone, 8,000 young employees under the age of 30 left their state government agencies, compared to the 23,000 employees total in government within this age group. Some of the top reasons workers noted that they left their jobs were due to lower pay, benefits, and inadequate working conditions. Within state government, it looks like the lower the pay offered, the more likely the younger age groups are to leave that job. Average pay for a government worker who worked full time hours was a little over $40,000 a year.

Why the Changes?

The millennial generation includes between born around the 1980s to the early 2000s. They have long since had the reputation of looking down on government agencies and their traditional jobs with working environment that they deem as outdated, according to Scott Span, an organizational improvement expert. According to Span, the generation doesn’t have the patience needed for bureaucracy in the workplace and don’t agree with the chain of command way of thinking. They tend to go for more unusual and non-traditional job prospects, which they just can’t get from local state government jobs.

Because many of these jobs are in state benefits and healthcare fields, having the generation of employees quitting so frequently really affects the entire industry severely.

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