August 2026
Earlier in 2026, MissionSquare Research Institute conducted a survey exploring how 2,000 state and local government workers use artificial intelligence (AI) in their jobs.
That poll found the majority of these government employees saying that AI is making their work lives easier. For instance, more than half of respondents said that AI has improved their productivity and the quality of their work.
More recently, the 2026 State and Local Government Workforce Survey sought to gain some insight into how public sector HR departments are utilizing AI.
Each year since 2009, PSHRA has partnered with MissionSquare Research Institute and the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE) to conduct an annual survey focusing on recruitment, retention, compensation, organizational culture and priorities, and other top-of-mind issues for public sector HR professionals, along with including related data from prior surveys in the series.
This year’s survey report provides an overview of data from the 2026 poll, which garnered responses from more than 600 state and local government HR professionals. (Of the total respondents, 77% were from local government, 15% from state government agencies, and 9% came from special districts—utilities, schools or parks, for instance.)
When asked about how they currently use artificial intelligence within their HR function, the largest number of respondents (45%) said they use AI to draft interview questions. Another 42% said they rely on the technology to write job descriptions. More than a quarter of survey participants (30%) said their agency uses AI for process improvement.
As AI adoption continues to increase, “so has the awareness of the need to manage it,” the report read, noting that 29% of respondents reported training all HR staff on the use of artificial intelligence. Another 16% said their agencies test their AI applications for potential bias.
While such findings indicate progress in terms of the training and testing agencies are doing with regard to AI, “they still show significant gaps left to fill,” the report concluded, “particularly as applications are expanded or agentic/autonomous agents become more prevalent.”
