Competition for talent is going to intensify. Government needs new approaches to how it compensates its workforce, writes Howard Risher in a Governing magazine commentary based on a new report from the National Association of State Chief Administrators.

At any given moment in time, governments in the United States and around the globe are carrying out key missions in service of their citizens, learning from and engaging with partners in other sectors, and acting as cost-effective stewards of public resources. The countless positive daily actions of government leaders go largely unrecognized amidst a constant focus on the highly visible but far smaller set of challenges and problems faced by the public sector. However, stepping back to view progress over a span of decades reveals evidence of the sum total of this continuous evolution in government management—as well as providing perspective on the future of public service.   It is from this longer-term perspective about the performance and potential for government that the IBM Center for The Business of Government wrote the book.