State Of Michigan Faces Challenge Of Workers Eligible For Retirement

LANSING (AP) - About 30 percent of Michigan's workforce of more than 48,000 will be eligible for retirement by 2019, the largest share of employees on their way out since 2009, state officials said.

About 16 percent of the workforce is eligible to retire this year, while nearly a quarter of the workforce is 55 or older, up from about 16 percent a decade ago, the Lansing State Journal reported. State officials said they have succession plans and note an employee "eligible for retirement" won't necessarily retire.

Union officials, however, worry that retirements offer managers a chance to cut the workforce by leaving positions unfilled or outsourcing jobs.

"It tends to be a way of balancing the budget," said Ken Moore, president of the Michigan State Employees Association. "And the workforce, the front lines, already have to do more with less."

A 2010 early-retirement incentive program ushered thousands of state workers off the payroll, but the share of employees nearing the exit has since climbed.

In October, the Michigan Civil Service Commission held a job fair at the Michigan State Police Training Academy in Dimondale. A big selling point was numerous job openings due to expected retirements and the commission is planning another such event.

Departments with technical oversight roles are among those expected to feel the effects of retirements. Over the next five years, two out of every five workers in the state departments of Agriculture & Rural Development, Environmental Quality, and Licensing & Regulatory Affairs will be eligible for retirement.

DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel said the early-out program taught his department "the value of institutional memory and the value of new energy and ideas that come with newer employees." He said DEQ has since developed an employee engagement program that encourages training.

Agriculture & Rural Development spokeswoman Jennifer Holton said the department works closely with schools such as Michigan State University and uses social media to advertise openings.

"Bottom line, MDARD has a solid infrastructure in place to fill positions internally, but (we) are working hard on succession planning to meet our future needs when those retirements occur," Holton said in an email.

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