With more than 600 jobs to fill, Josh Shapiro intends to change how PA hires | WITF

May 14, 2024 | 9:30 AM

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  Ben Wasserstein/WITF
  

  

  Howdy, I’m Ben, and I cover the state Capitol. In an alternate universe, my bio would read that I graduated from college, traveled to Bhutan and trained in martial arts so that one day I could return and defend my city from crime … like Batman.

  In reality, I graduated from the University of Richmond in 2021 and joined WITF in June of 2023. In between I was down in Charleston, South Carolina at the Post and Courier.

  I like helping people and, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do that is to inform them. That’s why I love reporting and covering politics.

  When I’m not working, you will probably see me with my dog Ozzy, consuming an unhealthy amount of coffee or visiting some local bars.

 Commonwealth Media Services

Harrisburg, PA. Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2024-01, establishing the Hire, Improve, Recruit, Empower (HIRE) Committee to expand opportunity for Pennsylvanians seeking a career in public service, continue to build a more competitive Commonwealth workforce, and make state government the best place to work in the Commonwealth. May 13, 2024.

Neisser Ribera is the son of an immigrant.

From a young age, he was always interested in technology. Throughout high school, he worked two jobs — web intern and restaurant host — “constantly moving between cleaning maple syrup from tables and writing code,” he said.

After graduating from Dauphin County Technical School, he joined the state Office of Administration as an IT apprentice.

“I believe the commonwealth is a place where you can build yourself up to be the person you’ve always wanted to be,” he said.

To help people like Ribera, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Monday to increase access to public service jobs.

“We need more young people like Neisser to join our team,” he said.

The order creates the Hire, Improve, Recruit, Empower Committee, or HIRE Committee. It will consist of 11 members from the administration and will make recommendations to the Office of Administration about hiring and recruiting.

It also calls on the Office of Administration to, among other things, implement a pilot program to create financial incentives for multilingual employees and affirm the state can hire non-US citizens if they are authorized to work in the United States.

And to make government work more competitive for women in the job market, the order directs the Department of General Services to expand the availability of free menstrual products at state-owned facilities.

Mike Sukal with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees praised the efforts within the order.

“They fall directly in line with our union’s goals in the last set of contract negotiations and AFSCME’s national Staff the Front Lines initiative,” he said.

Republican House Appropriations Chair Seth Grove said the order is positive but lacks a full view of the issues.

The representative from York County said Shapiro should review the “Back to Basics” bill package offered by House Republicans, which looks at areas where, they say, the government is failing.

“If the Governor were serious about ‘getting *stuff* done’ to expand our Commonwealth’s workforce, he would have included a requirement for state agency coordination, by connecting individuals that are unemployed or underemployed to Commonwealth employment,” Grove said in a statement.

The state government – second only to the federal government as the largest employer in Pennsylvania – has more than 600 job openings.

A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.