State & Local Issues

Public Employment Is A Growth Industry

Three years ago, Republicans were swept into governorships all across the country on pledges to freeze or cut back on hiring of state employees. But state and local government employment just keeps growing.

  • Texas Gov. George W. Bush complained his state had more employees "than the state of New York" when he took office, but state government employment has expanded by more than 15 percent since then.

  • In California, state government has expanded by about 6 percent under Gov. Pete Wilson.

  • Michigan Gov. John Engler renewed his promise to make good on a hiring freeze he had declared at his first inauguration in 1991, but hired more than 2,000 new state employees last year.

In fact, during the 1990-1996 period, state and local government employment increased in all but two states -- declining 5.2 percent in New York and 1.2 percent in Rhode Island (see figure). LINK http://www.ncpa.org/pd/gif/employ.gif

State governments added a net 200,000 new staffers from 1990 to 1996. But local governments have been increasing their staffs at twice the rate of state governments, adding 1.2 million people to their payrolls. Thus state and local government employment rank third -- behind only business services and health services -- in job growth.

Nevada took the prize for the most state and local hiring during the 1990-1996 period -- increasing public employee ranks by 38.5 percent.

Source: Jonathan Walters (Governing Magazine), "GOP Governors Renege on Work-Force Cuts," Washington Times, March 3, 1998.

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