Infrastructure Cash Leaves Buttigieg in a Bind to Hire Workers

The Transportation Department, tasked with spending the better part of $1 trillion from last year’s infrastructure law, needs more than 1,000 new employees to carry it out. Trouble is, the agency is struggling just to maintain the size of its workforce.

“Right now, America is undertaking one of the biggest investments in transportation infrastructure in our history and that means we’re hiring,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an April video as he walked between rows of desks. “We need to recruit a new generation of public servants.”

The department, seeking to deliver on one of President Joe Biden’s signature ...