Pasadena’s City Workforce Vacancy Rate Falls to 7.9% From 9.7%

The city’s vacancy rate among represented employees dropped to 7.9% as of January 1, down from 9.7% a year earlier, according to a report the City Council will receive at a public hearing Monday. The “vacancy rate” is the share of authorized, budgeted city jobs that are currently unfilled.

Pasadena’s 7.9% vacancy rate among represented employees means that out of every 100 budgeted, union-represented positions the city has budgeted, a little under eight are empty. Each bargaining unit’s vacancy rate is the percentage of positions in that specific group that do not have someone in the job.

Municipal vacancy rates throughout California, ranging from 5% to 30% across jurisdictions, a 2023 UC Berkeley Labor Center analysis. The study reported that most city officials considered 6% to 10% “not unusual” in normal times.

Monday’s hearing, the city’s second under Assembly Bill 2561, satisfies a 2024 state law requiring annual public disclosure of municipal staffing data. Recognized employee organizations may present their own perspectives on vacancies and workload impacts at the same session.

The state Legislature adopted AB 2561 after finding that persistent vacancies “can disrupt service delivery and increase workload and burnout for remaining employees, contributing to turnover.”

Most of the city’s 11 bargaining units showed recent improvement.

Laborers’ International Union of North America saw the largest drop, falling to 10.2% from 14.7%. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers dropped to 5.3% from 9.2%, and the Pasadena Fire Fighters Association fell to 3.9% from 7.7%.

Three units moved in the opposite direction. The Pasadena Police Supervisors Association rose to 13.3% from 7.1%, the International Union of Operating Engineers increased to 14.3% from 10.5%, and the Pasadena Management Association climbed to 9.9% from 8.6%.

No bargaining unit exceeds the 20% threshold that would trigger additional disclosure requirements under AB 2561.

The report attributes the citywide improvement to a range of recruitment initiatives: 244 staffing requests processed, 122 job postings made, and 246 positions filled since the last report in April 2025. An online onboarding portal reduced the typical new-hire timeline from more than a week to two or three days, according to the report.

Voluntary turnover also fell, to 4.74% in fiscal year 2025 from 8.17% the prior year. The city’s Gallup employee engagement survey drew more than 1,600 respondents—up from 1,468—and the citywide score rose to 4.00 out of 5.00, placing Pasadena at the 87th percentile among government agencies taking the same survey.

The report also details ongoing support for employees affected by the January 2025 Eaton Fire, including a partnership with the Eaton Fire Collaborative to host monthly job resource kiosks beginning in February.

Specific departmental highlights include 19 firefighter recruits in a 20-week academy with an April graduation date, five paramedic interns starting training this month, and a new Senior Park Safety Specialist classification created to improve retention in that hard-to-fill role.

The report was prepared by Human Resources Manager Brady Griffin and submitted by Human Resources Director Tiffany Jacobs-Quinn. City Manager Miguel Márquez approved the item.

The public may attend the hearing in person at City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., or virtually at cityofpasadena.net/cczoom; phone access is available at 1-669-900-6833, Meeting ID 161 482 446.