Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment

Since the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, total full- and part-time employment in state and local governments has never fully bounced back. The number of state and local government employees took less of a hit than those in private industry, but the belt-tightening by state and local governments has not loosened up enough to return to pre-pandemic employment levels as of 2023.

From March 2019 to March 2023, the number of state and local government jobs declined by 101,000 or 0.5% to 19.6 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics from the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll (ASPEP).

By contrast, private industry experienced a smaller percentage drop in employment and in March 2022 had rebounded beyond pre-pandemic levels with more employees (seasonally adjusted) than in March 2019. Private industry employment in 2022 reached a total of 129.3 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up over 1.2% from 127.7 million jobs in 2019 despite the pandemic downturn during that period.

In March 2022, while private industry had surpassed its level of employment from March 2019, state and local governments still had not fully regained their March 2019 employment levels. Overall, state and local government employment declined 4.8% from 2020 to 2021, losing just under 948,000 employees. Elementary and secondary education saw the largest job losses by far, 5.7% or 447,000 employees, close to half of all government jobs lost during this period. This was followed by losses in higher education, at 8.5% or 282,000 jobs; and parks and recreation at 13.9% or 59,000 jobs.