JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 One month after lawmakers approved a plan to boost the wages of some of the lowest-paid state employees in the nation, Missouri officials are still having to hire outside companies to provide workers.
Since March 16, the Missouri Department of Transportation has awarded contracts to four temporary personnel firms to plug holes in its beleaguered workforce.
MoDOT spokeswoman Linda Horn said the laborers will work mostly in the 狐狸视频 area picking up trash and other roadside debris.
鈥淭he additional help is needed now to help address the litter problem while our MoDOT maintenance crews have been busy fighting winter storms and more recently filling potholes,鈥 Horn said.
The cost to the state for each of the 10-12 laborers per week is $28 an hour. That amount covers the company鈥檚 cost as well as paying the worker, Horn said.
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All told, Missouri typically spends about $6 million a year picking up trash tossed out by motorists or debris left behind after accidents.
Like other state agencies, turnover has been a problem at MoDOT. Last year, nearly 17% of the workforce left the agency. The current salaried headcount is 4,738 full-time employees, with a total of 370 full-time vacancies.
Missouri residents have seen other state services suffer because of a shortage of workers. There have been long wait times at state call centers and limits placed on bed space at mental treatment facilities, prisons and nursing homes for veterans.
Low pay in Missouri has triggered hundreds of Missouri residents to cross the Mississippi River to work in Illinois prisons and mental health facilities where union-backed government jobs pay significantly higher rates.
MoDOT is not alone in needing temp workers to fill gaps. In October, the state hired a temporary staffing agency to supply clerical help to various state agencies.
With employees fleeing the state payroll for higher paying private sector jobs, Gov. Mike Parson last year called on the Legislature to boost pay by 5.5% and bring the lowest-paid hourly workers up to $15 an hour. He signed the wage hikes into law on Feb. 25.
The effect of those raises has not yet been felt at MoDOT.
鈥淚t is too early for us to determine if the salary increases for state employees have impacted our applicant pools,鈥 Horn said. 鈥淲e continue to have high turnover and difficulty hiring new employees.鈥
State officials said last week they were pleased with the turnout at a job fair in the capital city where hundreds of people met with representatives of various state agencies.