By Brittney Martin
Dallas News
AUSTIN — Those hired to care for the state’s frailest citizens are leaving their positions in droves, a state report released Wednesday shows.
Nurses for the disabled and Child Protective Services caseworkers were among the positions with the highest turnover rates in Texas agencies in 2013, the State Auditor’s Office found. In addition, 1 in 4 correctional officers in state prisons and 38 percent of officers in juvenile lockups left their jobs last year.
Almost half of the workers — 3,200 people — who helped disabled residents in the state’s supported living centers left their jobs in 2013.
The persistently high turnover rate in the agencies has been exacerbated by an improving economy that allows workers to seek other employment, the audit found.
But for state agencies, maintaining a trained workforce willing to do difficult and sometimes dangerous work is a chronic problem.
“These jobs are just not for everybody; it’s not a good fit for everybody,” Department of Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman Cecilia Cavuto said.
Full story: Texas saw exodus last year from state nursing, CPS, prison jobs