State and Local Government Workforce Expands Overall, Including Majority of States in 2016

by Jeffrey L Garceau

State and local governments expanded their total workforce in 2016, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2016 Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll showed that the state and local governments added 108,406 full- and part-time employees in 2016, a slight increase of 0.56%. Full-time employment grew at a greater pace than part-time employment, with 0.71% growth through the addition of 102,835 jobs, while part-time employment increased 5,571, or 0.11%. A total of 19,297,948 full- and part-time positions made up the state and local government workforce for the entire United States in 2016.






State Changes in State and Local Government Employment

30 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, increased their state and local government workforce, and 21 states decreased overall. Maine saw the greatest decrease, with total state and local government workforce lowering by -2.88%. Nevada has the greatest total increase of 3.85%, far outpacing the second-ranked state of Colorado, which increased its total state and local government workforce by 2.67%. Nevada also had the greatest increase of full-time employment, with a 4.30% increase, while Alaska actually had the greatest decrease in their full-time state and local government workforce, decreasing by -1.95%.

Below is an interactive chart of percentage changes by state in total and full-time employment from 2015-2016, calculated from U.S. Census Bureau data. Scroll over and click on specific data points for greater detail.



State and Local Government Workforce in the States

The states vary greatly in what percentage state and local government employees make up of the total overall workforce in 2016. MuniNet calculated the total state and local government workforce in each state as a percentage of the total non-farm payroll workforce, which comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The map below shows Wyoming to have the largest percentage of its workforce be state and local government employees, with 21.62% of the total workforce. Nearby Nevada has the lowest percentage of total workforce as state and local government employees, with only 10.28% of the total non-farm workforce working for state and local governments. Scroll over, select, and zoom to see greater detail.



You can find more information on the nation’s cities and states here.