Baltimore’s public works department last week reported nearly 700 vacant positions across the sprawling bureaucracy overseeing trash removal and the local water system. The city’s Department of Transportation is reporting a similarly stark shortage: over 300 open jobs, including significant needs for crossing guards and commercially licensed drivers.
At the same time, many people in Baltimore are living homeless or searching for work, noted Councilman Mark Conway at a Wednesday hearing, leaving “a very obvious connection that needs to be made.”
That gap prompted the North Baltimore councilman’s idea for a “day laborer” program to help link residents with flexible work. Like other kinds of work in the gig economy, such a program could help address city agencies’ severe staffing needs while connecting people with jobs that could last as long as a day, a week or a month, Conway said.
Baltimore is testing out numerous avenues to address severe staffing shortages, which have been exacerbated since the start of the pandemic. A community cleaning program aimed at filling gaps in waste services launched earlier this year, and just last week the city began offering $10,000 bonuses to hire and retain qualified CDL drivers.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Adam Willis over at The Baltimore Banner
