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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