EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JULY 25, 2001 (WEDNESDAY)
Public Information Office CB01-125
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Ellen Thompson/Kheang Hang
301-457-1529
State and Local Governments Employ More
Than 15 Million, Census Bureau Reports
More than 15.1 million full-time equivalent workers were employed
in state and local governments in 2000, a 2.2 percent increase over 1999,
according to tabulations for the 50 states and the District of Columbia
released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
Of that total, local governments reported 11 million full-time
equivalent employees; state governments reported 4.1 million.
Full-time equivalents include the number of full-time employees
who could have been employed if the hours worked by part-time employees
had been worked by full-time employees. For instance, two people working
half days would be considered as one full-time equivalent. This means the
actual number of people employed by state and local governments is
probably higher.
The tabulations from the 2000 Annual Survey of State and Local
Government Employment and Payroll show that most full-time equivalent
employees worked in education (7.8 million), hospitals (929,000) or police
protection (867,000). Other employment categories covered were
corrections, streets and highways, public welfare, health, judicial-legal,
financial administration and fire protection.
As with all surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability,
as well as nonsampling errors. Sources of nonsampling error include errors
of response, nonreporting and coverage. Measures of sampling variability,
presented as relative standard errors, are shown in the tables.
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