Employment Bounced Back Faster for Private Industry Than for State and Local Governments
Since the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, total full- and part-time employment in state and local governments has never fully bounced back.
The number of state and local government employees took less of a hit than those in private industry, but the belt-tightening by state and local governments has not loosened up enough to return to pre-pandemic employment levels as of 2023.
What Happened?
From March 2019 to March 2023, the number of state and local government jobs declined by 101,000 or 0.5% to 19.6 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics from the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll (ASPEP).
By contrast, private industry experienced a smaller percentage drop in employment and in March 2022 had rebounded beyond pre-pandemic levels with more employees (seasonally adjusted) than in March 2019.
Private industry employment in 2022 reached a total of 129.3 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up over 1.2% (nearly 1.6 million jobs) from 127.7 million jobs in 2019 despite the pandemic downturn during that period.
In March 2022, while private industry had surpassed its level of employment from March 2019, state and local governments still had not fully regained their March 2019 employment levels.
Government Services Hit the Hardest
Overall, state and local government employment declined 4.8% from 2020 to 2021, losing just under 948,000 employees.
Elementary and secondary education saw the largest job losses by far – 5.7% or 447,000 employees, close to half of all government jobs lost during this period.
This was followed by losses in higher education (8.5% or 282,000 jobs); and parks and recreation (13.9% or 59,000 jobs).
Growth Since the Turnaround
Several areas in state and local employment grew but had not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Overall, state and local government employment increased 4.1% from 2021 to 2023, adding just under 772,000 employees, still short about 176,000 jobs from 2020 levels.
Elementary and secondary education, which experienced the largest numeric loss during the downturn in March of 2021, also experienced the largest numeric increase during the recovery, adding just over 452,000 employees or 6.1% in 2023, just surpassing 2020 levels by nearly 6,000 employees.
Higher education employment rose 4.8%, adding nearly 147,000 jobs. Parks and recreation also gained 17.0% or just over 62,000 jobs from 2021 to 2023. Both are still below March 2019 employment levels.
The Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll provides more information on state and local government employees and the services they offer through annual statistics on the number of state and local government civilian employees and their gross payrolls for the month of March.