State and local government employees are essential in delivering everyday services to the American public, but the government’s labor force is understaffed and has yet to recover from its pandemic lows. The reasons range from lower pay and less advancement, to little flexibility in areas such as remote working. Private-sector jobs have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while in the public sector, government employers are still looking for more than 664,000 workers with little success. This may sound like one of those “so what” kinds of issues but consider this. Public employees operate the nation’s trains, subways, and buses in addition…