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Local Government Hiring Slows So Far in 2017

Hiring has picked up in the past two months, but it's still far behind last year's growth.

Closeup of a black keyboard with a finger about to press one key that is red and says "Now Hiring."
(Shutterstock)
Federal job estimates released Friday indicate local governments added another 7,000 jobs last month. The news follows one of the sector’s strongest months in recent years.

The bulk of the recent gains have been in areas other than education. Although some individual schools have either expanded payrolls or trimmed staff, total education employment has changed little over the past few months.

Despite the good news, the sector’s job growth as a whole has actually slowed so far this year. Local government employment has increased only 0.4 percent since January. That’s roughly half the growth over the same period last year and about the same as 2015.

 


Year January Employment July Employment Change
2013 14,034 14,024 -0.07%
2014 14,025 14,114 0.63%
2015 14,147 14,206 0.42%
2016 14,255 14,362 0.75%
2017 14,399 14,453 0.38%
SOURCE: Governing calculations of BLS seasonally adjusted data for local government
 
Meanwhile, state government employment continues to remain flat, as it has been for the better part of the recovery from the Great Recession.

 
Select a government sector to view monthly changes in employment:


Mike Maciag is Data Editor for GOVERNING.
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