Statement from the Volcker Alliance on July 2023 Jobs Report
Flush from the Strong Economy and COVID Aid, State and Local Governments Continue to Add Jobs
New York, NY – States and local governments and school districts continued to show steady gains in employment in June even as overall hiring in the U.S. economy slowed and the federal government workforce remained little changed, according to today’s Employment Situation Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“State and local jobs have shown a steady comeback from losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting generally flush budgets pumped up by a strong economy and record amounts of federal pandemic aid,” said William Glasgall, senior director, public finance, at the Volcker Alliance in New York.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed a seasonally adjusted 5.24 million state government jobs in June, 2.9 percent above the level of June 2022, while local jobs hit 14.6 million (up 2.7 percent from the year before), paced by a 2.2 percent gain in school employment and a 3.2 percent increase in other categories.
“School districts, police departments and many other local government agencies across the country have been offering incentives, including signing bonuses to attract new workers and help fill vacancies left by retirements and other losses that occurred during the pandemic,” Glasgall said.
While state and local government hiring has been relatively strong, total government employment, at 22.7 million, remains 0.7 percent below the pre-COVID level, according to the June report, and has yet to fully recover from losses incurred during the Great Recession of 2007-09.
The Volcker Alliance is continuing to provide research into the long-term impacts of national economic trends on state and local finances, along with its longstanding work empowering and inspiring the next generation of public servants to fill these jobs.
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