Employment in the public sector: Two recessions' impact on jobs

Monthly Labor Review

Volumn 127, Issue 10, 2004, Pages 38-47

  Hatch, Julie ^a  

^a BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 20444485780     PISSN: 00981818     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (38)

1. Data on employment used in this article are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which surveys 160,000 nonfarm businesses representing about 400,000 establishments monthly. For more information on the program's concepts and methodology, see BLS Handbook of Methods (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1997). CES data are available on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ces/. Data used in this article are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise noted.
2. For information on recessions, recoveries, the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee, and related topics, see http://www.nber.org/cycles/main.html.
3. Gross domestic product grew 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 1991 and increased every quarter until the third quarter of 2000. The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis pro duces estimates of gross domestic product; for more information, visit the agency's website at http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/home/gdp.htm.
4. Intermittent decennial census workers are excluded from the analysis because their large, infrequent buildup and subsequent layoff skews the underlying employment trend. For more information about the 2000 Decennial Census and its impact on CES employment, see Laura Kelter, "Counting the counters: effects of Census 2000 on employment," Monthly Labor Review, February 2000, pp. 24-29; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/ 02/art2full.pdf.
5. For more information on the Department of Homeland Security, see www.dhs.gov.
6. For more information on the Transportation Security Administration, see www.tsa.gov.
7. Department of Defense operations that operate under non-appropriated funding are excluded from the agency's job numbers, but are included in the "other Federal Government" category. Non-appropriated funds are funds generated by Department of Defense military and civilian personnel and their dependents and are used to augment funds appropriated by the Congress "to provide a comprehensive, morale-building welfare, religious, educational, and recreational program designed to improve the well-being of military and civilian personnel and their dependents" (quote cited on the Internet at http://usmilitary.about.eom/library/glossary/n/blglossary.htm).
8. The National Partnership for Reinventing Government, formerly the Government Performance and Results Act, focused on performance and funding in the Federal Government. According to one source, "This effort has streamlined the Government work force, eliminated obsolete programs and agencies, empowered its employees to cut red tape, and used partnerships to get results" (FY2002 Economic Outlook. Highlights from FY 1994 to FY 2001, FY 2002 Baseline Projects, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President of the United States, January 2001), available on the Internet at http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/.
9. The Federal Government's fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 31. (See "History of the U.S. Postal Service"; on the Internet at http://www.usps.com/history/his3_5.htm#CHANGE.
10. United States Postal Service Annual Report 2001; available on the Internet at http://www.usps.com/history/anrpt01/.
11. "Sluggish Economy and Reduced Mail Volumes Continue to Impact Postal Service Finances," Postal News, Apr. 9, 2002, release no. 02-024; on the Internet at www.usps.gov.
12. Jefferson Graham, "The check is not in the mail," USA Today, Mar. 25, 2004; on the Internet at http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/ 2004-03-25-billpay_x.htm.
13. For more information, visit the website www.irs.gov.
14. Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Nov. 24, 2003), Chapter 3, "Postsecondary Education." A copy of the report is available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/ch_3.asp.
15. National Association of State Budget Officers, Fact Sheet: Quick Rebound? State Fiscal Recovery Could Be Gradual, Lag National Economy 12-18 Months, Mar. 12, 2002. Forty-six states begin their fiscal years in July and end them in June, The exceptions are Alabama and Michigan, with an October-to-September fiscal year; New York, with an April-to-March fiscal year; and Texas, with a September-to-August fiscal year. For more information, visit the association's website, www.nasbo.org.
16. Greg Winter, "Charitable Giving Falls for First Time in Years," The New York Times, Oct. 27. 2003.
17. National Association of State Budget Officers, 2002 State expenditure report; on the Internet at www.nasbo.org.
18. Liz Sidoti, "Yikes! Mid-Year Tuition Hikes," Jan. 8, 2002; on the Internet at CBSNEWS.com.
19. "Tuition up in 49 states as schools, students struggle in tough times," USA Today, Aug. 25, 2003.
20. For more information about public colleges' and universities' decisions, see Shaun Bishop, "Cuts may force uc to accept more out-of-State students," The Daily Bruin Online, Sept. 26, 2003;
21. Amy Argetsinger, "Colleges' Chief Suggests Enrollment Cap," Washington Post, June 11, 2003;
22. and Mary Beth Marklein, "Colleges brace for bigger classes and less bang for more bucks," USA Today, Aug. 27, 2003.
23. State education unadjusted fall buildup begins in August and ends in November.
24. National Association of State Budget Officers, Fact Sheet: Quick Rebound?
25. Data are from Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government Revenue Report Database; on the Internet at http://rockinst.org.
26. National Association of State Budget Officers, Budget Shortfalls: Strategies for Closing Spending and Revenue Gaps, 3d ed., December 2002.
27. Although U.S. Postal Service employment declined by 1.6 percent during the recession, job losses were mostly the result of technological improvements and not the recession.
28. National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association, The Fiscal Survey of States: June 2003; on the Internet at www.nasbo.org.
29. "State Tax Revenue Continues Slow Improvement," The Rockefeller Institute State Fiscal News, vol. 4, no. 1.
30. Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Nov. 24, 2003), Chapter 2, "Primary and Secondary Education"; a copy of the report is available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov/progams/digest/d02/ch_2.asp.
31. Chris Hoene, "History, voters not kind to property tax," The Weekly; posted on the Internet on May 14, 2001, at www.nlc.org.
32. Michael A. Pagano and Christopher Hoene, "Survey Summary: City Fiscal Conditions Decline for First Time in a Decade"; on the Internet at National League of Cities website, www.nlc.org.
33. Chris Hoene and Michael Pagano, "States Cut $2.3 Billion in Aid to Cities and Towns"; on the Internet at the National League of Cites website, www.nlc.org.
34. "Cities Cut Services, Increase Fees to Confront Worsening Fiscal Squeeze," press release, the National League of Cities, Nov. 30, 2003.
35. Richard S. Dunham, ed., "America's Cities are Seeing Red over Code Orange," Business Week, June 9, 2003, p. 55.
36. For more information, visit the Department of Homeland Security website at www.dhs.gov.
37. For more information, visit the Department of Education website at www.ed.gov.
38. National Conference of State Legislatures, Task Force Formed to Examine Federal No Child Left Behind Act, Mar. 30, 2004; on the internet at www.ncsl.org.