EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, FEBRUARY 19, 1999 (FRIDAY)
Public Information Office CB99-32
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e-mail: pio@census.gov
Nancy Stencel
301-457-1529
California, New York and Texas Led the Nation In State and Local
Government Employment in 1997, Census Bureau Says
California, New York and Texas, the nation's three most populous states,
led the country in state and local
government employment (full- and part-time)
in 1997, according to tabulations for the 50 states and District of
Columbia released today on the Internet by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau.
California, with 1.8 million people on the public payroll, topped the
list, followed by New York and Texas, each with 1.2 million, State and
local governments nationwide had
16.7 million full- and part-time employees
in 1997, an increase of less than 1 percent over 1995.
The tabulations showed that most full- and part-time workers were
employed in education (9 million), hospital work (1 million) and police
protection (856,000).
The 1997 Census of Governments' data cover full- and part-time
employment, gross payrolls, part-time employee hours worked and
full-time-equivalent employment. Other employment categories are
corrections, fire protection, air transportation, streets and highways,
solid waste management and financial and central government
administration.
The data are not subject to sampling variability, but are subject to
response errors and data processing errors.
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The U.S. Census Bureau, pre-eminent collector and disseminator of timely,
relevant and quality data about the people and the economy of the United
States, conducts a population and housing census every 10 years, an
economic census every five years and more than 100 demographic and
economic surveys every year, all of them evolving from the first census in
1790.
