National Association of State Personnel Executives
Webinar | 2025
Leading on Leave: How States are Shaping the Future of Paid Leave Policy
State-leave paid family and medical programs are reshaping the national landscape, creating a complex and dynamic policy environment for personnel leaders. As more states implement or expand their own programs, understanding these variations can help state HR and personnel leaders identify best practices, track emerging models, and explore opportunities for policy innovation.
Recruitment became less challenging in 2024 and saw continued improvement in 2025. Across 19 key occupations, the share of survey respondents who considered them “hard to fill,” dropped by 10 percentage points or more since 2022.
This survey of public sector human resources professionals has been conducted annually since 2009 by MissionSquare Research Institute in collaboration with the Public Sector HR Association (PSHRA) and the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE).
State-leave paid family and medical programs are reshaping the national landscape, creating a complex and dynamic policy environment for personnel leaders. As more states implement or expand their own programs, understanding these variations can help state HR and personnel leaders identify best practices, track emerging models, and explore opportunities for policy innovation.
Recruitment became less challenging in 2024 and saw continued improvement in 2025. Across 19 key occupations, the share of survey respondents who considered them “hard to fill,” dropped by 10 percentage points or more since 2022.
