November 16, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Government employment and the 2001 recession

Total government employment grew during the 2001 recession.

[Chart data—TXT]

Local government gained 33,000 jobs per month during the recession, split equally between the education and noneducation components. Local education is the largest component within government, as shown in the chart, and typically adds a noteworthy number of jobs each year.

During the 2001 recession, State government added 16,000 jobs per month. Education accounted for 90 percent of State employment growth during this period.

Opposing employment trends in Federal Government resulted in flatness in that government component during the 2001 recession. Small employment declines in the U.S. Postal Service offset small gains elsewhere in the Federal sector.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program, a monthly survey that provides industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. To learn more about recent trends in government employment, see "Employment in the public sector: two recessions’ impact on jobs," by Julie Hatch, in the Monthly Labor Review, October 2004.