California’s state workforce has expanded in numbers even as the local and global economy continues to tumble.
Of the 22,781 who found employment through the state from January 2009 to June of this year, the majority hired were highway patrol officers, firefighters, seasonal/emergency needs based positions and unemployment insurance personnel according to the state controller’s office.
During that same period of time the state’s total employment was around 240,000 individuals. This workforce cost the state over $1.6 billion in wages paid monthly to maintain.
This comes at a point when for the first time in 34 years the state has not had a budget passed by the month of September. Both Republicans and Democrats remain entrenched in their respective positions, the state continues to operate on last fiscal year’s budget.
This means state workers will continue to be employed and looked after in spite of California’s ever expanding budget debacle.
State workers have faired better than employees in the private sector during the economic downturn. California’s unemployment rate continued to hover this summer around 12.2 percent according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Seeking employment from state agencies and departments is shaping up to be a sound choice for recent college graduates. Unemployment in urban and coastal areas where California’s public and private universities cluster has risen dramatically.
Previously the majority of California’s 12.2 percent unemployment was due to a downturn in the agricultural industry in California’s central valley.
With metropolitan areas like the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward