The size of Texas’ combined local and state government workforces increased 0.9% from July 2019 to July 2021, representing the second best public-employee job recovery among the 50 states, a Pew Charitable Trusts study concluded.
The Pew analysis found that the return of the public-employee jobs after the COVID-19-induced recession last year has been lagging, despite the private sector’s more successful efforts to regain job losses.
Texas’ 0.9% increase was the best pandemic-recovery performance of any state with the exception of Rhode Island, according to the Pew report. Nationwide, non-education state and local government jobs were down by 400,000 since the pandemic began, U.S. Labor Department estimates for August revealed.
Local government jobs, excluding educators, were the hardest hit, with those public-sector payrolls down 5.3% nationwide from before the COVID-19 emergency, according to the Pew study.
The reasons behind the slower recovery of local and state government jobs included previous reductions of local government services to prevent the spread of the virus, as well as hiring freezes and budget pressures in some jurisdictions, researchers said.
The states reporting the biggest losses of local and state government employment as of July compared to the same time in 2019 were New Mexico (-8.5%); Connecticut (-7.6%); New Hampshire (-7.6%); Louisiana (-7.5%); and Illinois (-6.9%), according to the study.
Government jobs data was not available for Missouri.
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Changes in Public-Sector Workforce Numbers by State
| Rank | State | Change in State, Local Government Jobs, July 2019 vs. July 2021 |
| 1 | New Mexico | -8.5% |
| 2 (tie) | Connecticut | -7.6% |
| 2 (tie) | New Hampshire | -7.6% |
| 4 | Louisiana | -7.5% |
| 5 | Illinois | -6.9% |
| 6 (tie) | Hawaii | -6.2% |
| 6 (tie) | Pennsylvania | -6.2% |
| 8 | New Jersey | -6.0% |
| 9 | Vermont | -5.9% |
| 10 | Massachusetts | -5.8% |
| 11 | Virginia | -5.5% |
| 12 | Nevada | -5.2% |
| 13 (tie) | Kansas | -5.1% |
| 13 (tie) | New York | -5.1% |
| 15 | Wisconsin | -4.9% |
| 16 | Michigan | -4.7% |
| 17 | Kentucky | -4.6% |
| 18 | Maine | -4.5% |
| 19 | Georgia | -4.4% |
| 20 | Mississippi | -4.3% |
| 21 (tie) | North Dakota | -3.8% |
| 21 (tie) | Washington | -3.8% |
| 23 | Arizona | -3.7% |
| 24 (tie) | Arkansas | -3.6% |
| 24 (tie) | Ohio | -3.6% |
| 24 (tie) | Oklahoma | -3.6% |
| 27 | Wyoming | -3.3% |
| 28 | California | -3.0% |
| 29 | Minnesota | -2.8% |
| 30 | Maryland | -2.6% |
| 31 (tie) | Nebraska | -2.4% |
| 31 (tie) | Tennessee | -2.4% |
| 33 (tie) | Alabama | -1.8% |
| 33 (tie) | Alaska | -1.8% |
| 33 (tie) | Indiana | -1.8% |
| 33 (tie) | Iowa | -1.8% |
| 37 | Oregon | -1.7% |
| 38 | Delaware | -1.5% |
| 39 | Montana | -1.4% |
| 40 | Utah | -1.1% |
| 41 (tie) | Colorado | -0.8% |
| 41 (tie) | Florida | -0.8% |
| 43 (tie) | Idaho | -0.7% |
| 43 (tie) | North Carolina | -0.7% |
| 43 (tie) | South Carolina | -0.7% |
| 46 | West Virginia | 0.3% |
| 47 | South Dakota | 0.6% |
| 48 | Texas | 0.9% |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 1.5% |
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts
