>so there are 4000 open jobs in Philadelphia’s government? I’ve applied to several Philadelphia govt jobs over the years and have never even sniffed an interview.

The bulk of that is in the major departments, police (not a secret Philly cop isn't an attractive job right now), fire, sanitation, corrections...if you were just applying for generic city office job that's a little different and well...you may encounter the traditional difficulties of getting a city job.