Current Competency Gaps Among Governmental Public Health Workers With and Without Formal Public Health Degrees

Posted on April 11, 2025 by MaKenzie Gee

This entry is part 8 of 14 in the series May 2025

A well-trained public health workforce is a critical part of the public health infrastructure. However, competency gaps among the workforce remain a persistent issue. One way to address these gaps is by expanding access to and encouraging the uptake of formal public health education. In our latest study “Competency Gaps Among Governmental Public Health Employees With and Without a Formal Public Health Degree: Where Are We Now?” we examine how formal public health education influences competency gaps among public health workers and explore trends in these gaps over time.

By analyzing data from the 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), we sought to assess how public health degree attainment affects competency gaps across key public health domains. Taking a longitudinal approach, we compared findings from 2021 to 2017 in order to evaluate changes over time. Additionally, we identified areas of persistent competency gaps where further training is needed.

Study Findings

Read Our Article in the May Issue of JPHMP

Public health workers with formal public health degrees reported fewer competency gaps. In 2021, public health workers with a formal public health degree were significantly less likely to report skill gaps compared to those without a formal public health degree. When comparing results from 2021 to 2017, there was a notable reduction in competency gaps over the four-year period.
Competency gaps varied by job level.
- Nonsupervisors with a formal public health degree reported fewer gaps in 14 of 23 assessed skills, particularly in the data-based decision-making, community engagement, and policy engagement domains.
- Supervisors and managers with a formal public health degree reported fewer skill gaps in 17 of 24 skills, particularly in the data-based decision-making, change management, community engagement, cross-sectoral partnerships, and policy engagement domains.
- Executives with a formal public health degree reported fewer skill gaps in 1 of 24 skills, particularly in the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) domain.
Challenges remain in effective communication. Despite improvements in other areas, many public health workers, particularly nonsupervisors and executives, reported difficulties in “communicating in a way that persuades others to act”.
Financial decision-making gaps persist among executives. Executives with public health degrees were more likely to report challenges in the budgeting and financial management domain, specifically in “using financial analysis methods to make decisions about programs and services across the agency”.

Our study highlights the critical role of formal public health education in addressing workforce competency gaps. However, it also highlights the need for targeted training in the domains of effective communication and budgeting and financial management, particularly at the executive level.

To learn more about our findings, read “Competency Gaps Among Governmental Public Health Employees With and Without a Formal Public Health Degree: Where Are We Now?”

I would like to acknowledge my co-authors, Dr. Heather Taylor and Dr. Valerie A. Yeager, for their contribution to this work.

About the Author

MaKenzie Gee: MaKenzie Gee, MS, is a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.