Governments' Payrolls Go Up

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- State and local governments employed 15.4 million "full-time equivalent" workers in 2001, a 2 percent increase over 2000, according to figures released by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

Of that total, local governments reported 11.2 million full-time equivalent employees and state governments employed 4.2 million. The numbers come from the 2001 Annual Survey of State and Local Government Employment and Payroll.

In 2001, most full-time equivalent employees worked in education (8 million), hospitals (922,000) and police protection (885,000).

Other employment categories with the highest number of employees included:

- Corrections (700,734)
- Streets and highways (551,706)
- Public welfare (519,118)
- Health (423,813)
- Judicial-legal (402,342)
- Financial administration (379,077) and ;
- Fire protection (276,250).