Sharp Staff Cuts Hurt Morale at Labor Board Offices, GAO Finds

National Labor Relations Board employees feel overburdened and understaffed after years of personnel reductions, particularly in the agency’s regional offices, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The GAO report, released Monday, found that NLRB staff shrunk by 26% over the last decade, from more than 1,700 in 2010 to fewer than 1,300 in 2019. Reductions were most acute in regional offices, which lost 33% of staff compared with 8% in the national headquarters.

NLRB officials and external observers partly attributed the cuts to a 22% decline in the NLRB’s caseload, the GAO said.

The findings highlight the ...