The Delaware Department of Human Resources sets state employee hiring and promoting records the last two years.
In 2023, 4,516 state employees were hired and promoted - a 22 percent increase since 2017.
Meanwhile in 2022, the state set a record with nearly 4,000 state employees being hired, re-hired, and promoted.
Department of Human Resources Secretary Claire DeMatteis says modernizing their marketing efforts in posting jobs has been a big help.
"Really for the first time the state over the past two years has had a robust public campaign about our job openings not only on radio and billboards but more importantly social media and targeted advertising to reach our job applicants where they are," said DeMatteis.
Not only are more being hired, but applications for state jobs increased by an average of 20 percent per month the past year with some months seeing a 35-37 percent increase.
DeMatteis says implementing a strategic workforce recruitment campaign was important in breaking numbers.
"The theme of the last two plus years coming out of the pandemic has certainly been modernizing our human resources operations, our job descriptions, getting more robust about offering signing bonuses, and referral bonuses, and the combination of all that, driven by higher state salaries and our really terrific state benefits," said DeMatteis.
There’s been a 12 percent average salary increase for state employees -- with those at the lower end of the pay scale seeing up to an 18 percent increase.
In the last seven years, state employee salaries have increased by an average of 31 percent.
The state also reviewed and updated job descriptions for over 3,000 positions, eliminating the bachelor’s degree requirement for hundreds of positions.
