HARRISBURG, Pa. — In his first official action as governor, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order regarding state jobs and college degrees.
Executive Order 2023-03 opens up 92% of state positions, or about 65,000 jobs, to people without a college degree.
The remaining 8% of state jobs have legal requirements for certain college degrees. The order also calls for a review of the requirements for those jobs.
The move comes as the state, like many other sectors, struggles with a worker shortage amid a tight labor market.
“We’ve got to begin changing the way we think about filling those jobs. We’ve got to begin to make sure people recognize that they’re qualified for those jobs and that we want them to do that work,” Shapiro said before signing the order.
The new system will emphasize skills and experience in addition to education.
Officials said expanding the definition of who is qualified for a job will especially help minorities and people from low- or middle-class backgrounds.
The action was lauded by some state employees, such as Beth Christian of the Department of General Services. As a teenager growing up on a farm, she decided not to go to college.
“I didn’t realize how that stigma would follow me through my career,” she said. “I had tears in my eyes when I heard about then Gov.-elect Shapiro’s campaign promise to remove this requirement.”
Officials from the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association encouraged private employers to follow the state’s lead in expanding job qualifications, even if it requires a shift in hiring practices.
“It takes two things,” said PWDA Executive Director Carrie Amann. “It takes the commitment to understand what you need and then the demonstration of how workers and jobseekers demonstrate that they have those skills and competencies to you. So that does require engaging with workforce development organizations, education organizations, and others including career tech, local workforce boards and others.”
Shapiro also announced the opening of a new website to apply to all state jobs.
Employment.pa.gov currently has about 550 openings.