Declining staffing and increasing caseloads are hurting social service workers ability to help vulnerable New Jersey residents.

That's according to a new survey conducted by the Communications Workers of America.

Across the county, agencies polled by the CWA workers reported being understaffed and underpaid for the amount of work they're doing.

These are things like helping the elderly apply for Medicaid or connecting needy families with food assistance or veterans benefits.

As Ted Goldberg reports, workers say the result is the most vulnerable People in the state are waiting longer to get the assistance they need.

A new report from the CWA labor union paints a bleak picture for people who work in social service agencies statewide.

You're going to be able to give them less time.

And so that means more errors, more delays in benefits, things, everything like that.

And honestly, that leads to burnout.

Brittany Holland Prunty wrote this report which surveyed about 600 people and found that while the workforce has dropped 3% in the last half decade, case loads have gone up by nearly a third.

Workers say lack of pay is the biggest reason why counties struggle to hire and retain workers to help people sign up for programs like SNAP or Medicaid.

We've heard directly from those that try to recruit people that people do come and listen and that when they hear what the pay is, they're not interested.

Fewer people want to go into that field.

Fewer people feel supported.

Fewer people feel like that job can help them support their own families.

It's hard to take out loans, maybe pay a car payment.

I live in New Jersey and earn $42,000 a year.

Their benefits are just not enough.

Their pay is not enough.

And so they end up having to rely on the very programs that they're also helping people connect to.

And again, that you can't attract people to a job if they don't feel like it's going to help them support their families.

CWA workers hosted a virtual press conference yesterday to explain how low pay and low worker morale are working against the county's trying to hire more people.

An exception seems to be ocean County, which agreed to a new labor contract this year, ensuring 4000 pay raises with $3,000 raises in each of the next two years.

And it is.

Because of that that our retention rate has gone up among our work staff and as a direct result of the hiring rate.

We've added 60 new employees since we settled the contract in June.

I'm really hoping that counties will start to see how important it is to retain the employees and of course, to fill the empty desks.

The press conference also featured stories about clients who might have been helped if there wasn't such a backlog of cases.

Three months later, I met his daughter.

Child was no longer with us.

She came to thank me not only for what I did, but for how I did it.

John relayed the effort and care afforded to him, to his daughter, and let me know the importance of the services we provide.

But it also makes me wonder what would have happened if he would have gotten services to on faster.

While workers are asking for more money and flexibility.

It's not always easy for counties to just pay up.

These salaries are paid for by property taxpayer dollars, so they have to be mindful of that.

In any time you talk about a salary, you have to factor into significant health benefit expenses and pension health benefits, which add about 50 to 60%.

John Donadio leads the New Jersey Association of Counties.

He says some counties are considering privatizing parts of their social service departments to save money in the same way that some municipalities have privatized their water supply.

I don't know that it's the best case scenario to look at privatizing, but some case it's the only offered the only option that a county may have to deliver essential services in an effective manner.

They don't have the staffing, can't find the people.

What are your alternatives?

In the meantime, social service workers will continue doing what they do.

As human beings, we care about the work we do, which is why we do it.

We don't want to see them suffering, waiting for months and months, you know, to connect them with, you know, SNAP or Medicaid.

And counties will deliberate paying more for their social service workers or possibly privatizing some of what they do.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Goldberg.