The Size of State and Local Government
A new report from the Cato Institute finally brings a little good news to Hawaii. This state doesn’t lead the pack of having the largest percentage of state and local government workers. Alaska has that honor with 16.6 percent of its workforce in the government sector. Hawaii is in the middle at 12.0 percent. The bad news is that government workers as a percentage of the workforce is growing. The report makes a number of interesting observations:
The nation’s 16 million state and local government workers form a large, growing, and well-compensated class in society. State and local workers earned $36 per The number of school teachers and administrators increased 22 percent between 1994 and 2004. By contrast, the number of children in the public schools increased just 9 percent during the period.
hour in wages and benefits in 2005, on average, compared to $24 per hour for U.S. private-sector workers. Another distinction is that 42 percent of state and local workers are represented by unions, compared to just 9 percent in the private sector.
Yet other areas are suffering for lack of growth:
Some areas of the state and local bureaucracy, such as hospitals, have not grown.
In this state the hospital sector is heading towards a crisis.
Finally this observation:
One conclusion is that there seems to be substantial room for increased government efficiency in many states. Although this bulletin provides only a brief look at differences in state bureaucracy, the data indicate that some states deliver government services with many fewer workers than do other jurisdictions.
The whole Cato report here. (pdf)