Presentation on Staffing
& Vacancies
Coalition of City Unions, 2026
Staffing Levels have Improved since 2022, But
Remain Below Pre-Great Recession Levels. San Jose
is Still the Most Thinly Staffed Big City in California.
From the Annual Report on City Services, FY 24-25:
After Our Last Union Contract, San Jose
Became More Competitive and Vacancies
Improved
• As of December, there were
596 budgeted vacancies
compared to 655 at the same
time last year.
• For comparison, in June of
2022, there were 814 vacant
positions.
• Budgeted positions over this
time period have increased,
meaning that lower vacancies
is due to better recruitment
and retention.
From the FY 25-26 Adopted Budget:
Some Classifications
Still Have Significant
Vacancies
64 21
20 19
17 16
14 14
8 8
8 7
7 7
7 6
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Police Officer
Analyst II
Fire Fighter
Fire Engineer
Police Sergeant
Maintenance Worker I
Assoc Engineer
Staff Specialist
Electrician II
Environment Serv Spec
Fire Captain
Senr Analyst
Engineer II
Park Ranger
Planner III
Executive Assistant U
Community Activity Wkr FT
Bldg Inspect Combo Cert I FT
Assoc Engineer (Exempt)
Code Enforcement Insp II
Community Service Officer II
Police Radio Dispatcher FT
Gardener
Prin Office Specialist
Heavy Equip Oper
Enterprise Supvr Tech Analyst
Maintenance Assistant
Development Officer
Classifications with 5+ Vacancies
• This includes:
Nearly 30 vacancies among
analysts and senior analysts
Planning and engineering
classifications
Maintenance and parks workers
Code enforcement
Dispatchers
Information Technology
And others
Turnover Rates Have Also Improved Compared
to 2022 Levels
13%
12%
14% 14% 14%
6% 6%
14%
11% 11% 11%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 Total Turnover Rate
Annual Reports on City Services
To Keep Making Progress, San Jose will
Need to Keep Up with the Region
• Santa Clara, San Mateo County, Cupertino, Mountain View and other public agencies have already negotiated wage increases for the coming years.
• To not fall behind, San Jose will need to offer competitive wage increases to its employees and help address issues with high vacancy classifications.
• San Jose still lags behind market on pensionable pay due to the city’s unique, 5% non-pensionable wage adjustment.
• No other public agencies in the region consider a portion of employee’s regular wages to be non-pensionable.
Contribution Rates
for Both Pension
Plans are Expected to
Decline, Leading to
Significant Payroll
Savings.
This is a Result of
Negotiated Pension
Reform and a Lower
Benefit for Tier 2
Employees.
2024 Actuarial Valuation for the Federated Plan:
2024 A ctuarial V aluation for the Police & Fire Plan: