One in 10 Boston City Jobs Remains Unfilled. Mayor’s Office Claims to Have Added 301 Full-Time Positions
The City of Boston employs approximately 18,000 people. Last year, however, the city’s budget accounted for more than 20,000 positions. One in 10 city government jobs has remained unfilled across…
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The City of Boston employs approximately 18,000 people. Last year, however, the city's budget accounted for more than 20,000 positions. One in 10 city government jobs has remained unfilled across Boston's police, schools, and broader city services.
According to a MassLive report, the Boston Police Department reported approximately 550 job vacancies, Boston Public Schools had about 400 unfilled positions, and the Boston Transportation Department had about 300. The Public Health Commission and Public Works Department each have more than 150 open positions that have not been filled.
The vast amount of unfilled positions across broad swaths of the city government is raising concerns about the effectiveness of the city's public services.
This vacancy report comes less than two months after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's team delivered a seven-page letter and 13-page table of positions explaining the “new workforce headcount” to the Boston City Council. The Dorchester Reporter noted that Wu's letter contained information about 301 full-time positions her administration said it added to the city's payroll during the last three years of her term as mayor. These positions total approximately $84,781 in average salaries.
“We are proud of our City workforce who keep Boston running and deliver excellent municipal services each and every day and have worked diligently throughout our administration to support our workforce,” Wu wrote in the letter, which was delivered to city councillors on Tuesday, according to Wu's aides.
According to the Dorchester Reporter's analysis, the largest portion, about 23%, of the 301 hires — 67 individuals — belong to the “Basic City Services” category. This category includes positions for individuals like 911 operators, street cleaners known as “hokeys” (who have doubled on Wu's watch in a push to improve sanitation across the neighborhoods), and more 311 operators.
Wu's team argues that the increases in new hires early in the mayor's term reflected a need to "catch up" on services that were reduced or eliminated from the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
