In the spreadsheet attached to this post, I provided tables of comparative data on local government employment and pay for different parts of New York State in March 2007, along with the data and capacity to quickly make similar comparisons with major counties around the country. The sources and tabulation methods are explained in that post. Attached to this post is a table that takes similar information I compiled five years ago, when the 2002 Census of Governments was released, and compares it with 2007 for the United States; New York City; the downstate suburban counties (Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam); the mostly highly urbanized Upstate NY counties (Albany, Broome, Dutchess, Erie, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady); the other more rural Upstate New York counties; and the total for New Jersey. The data show that full time equivalent local government employment per 100,000 people rose 1.4% in the United States from 2002 to 2007. For New York City it fell 4.3%, for the Downstate Suburbs it rose 8.2%, for the Upstate Metro counties it rose 1.1%, for the rest of New York State it rose 2.9%, and for New Jersey it rose 5.4%. Needless to say, I am not surprised.
For New York City, elementary and secondary school instructional employment fell slightly per 100,000 residents, as the ongoing exit of the large baby boom echo generation from school, and entry of smaller cohorts into kindergarten, reduced enrollment. This was partially offset by a desire for lower class sizes during the period. But a massive reduction in teacher employment is likely going forward, due to a combination of the budget crisis and the UFT’s successful shift of a huge share of the budget from the classroom to early retirement, with teachers retiring at 55 rather than 62. This data only includes those working, not those retired. As the public school spending data attached to this post shows, New York City spent considerably more than the national average on teachers in FY 2006, even with the higher cost of living here accounted for, and as much as in other parts of the state, where teacher employment and pay are higher. The reason is the city’s greater generosity to those who do not work, a cost often shifted to the future. Now that the future is here, expect another reduction in compensation for those who are working, especially new hires.
The number of New York City fire department employees was also relatively unchanged from 2002 to 2007, although recall that fire department strength was down in March 2002 due to losses on 9/11 and in the subsequent recovery effort. The number of higher education (for local government, community colleges) non-instructional workers was also flat.
In nearly every other category of local government employment, other hand, New York City’s employment to population ratio fell, often significantly, generally due to both ongoing small population increases and falling employment. Elementary and secondary school non-instructional employment, which was already low relative to the national average, fell 11.0% relative to population as reductions in school administration continued and services were contracted out. Higher education instructional employment fell 12.7%, as the community colleges continued to be a stepchild here. Corrections employment fell 13.2%, as falling crime reduced the number of prisoners. Housing and community development fell 11.6%. With the Port Authority continuing to contract out and cut employment, there were huge drops in the airport and water transportation categories.
The only significant increases in New York City’s local government employment relative to population were in public health (up 4.9%) and the city’s traditionally understaffed parks, recreation and culture agencies (up 56.1%). Based on the most recent budget or two, libraries may have also received a temporary boost after this data is collected. That boost is likely to be gone, and then some, by the time the next Census of Governments is taken, leaving the city’s libraries employment both below the U.S. average and falling in each census year.
How about other parts of New York State? Elementary and secondary school employment, already sky-high in most locations outside New York City, continued to increase for instructional employees in the Downstate Suburbs and rural New York Counties, although it was flat in the Upstate Metro counties. Non-instructional public school employment increased in all three areas, since that is a good place to put someone without credentials who needs a job, while falling in New Jersey. Higher public school employment is especially attractive for the rest of the state, because the higher spending grows there, the more people complain about property taxes, and the more education resources are redistributed away from New York City. Particularly since, according to Dean Skelos, as a result of the past under-funding of New York City schools, the state is under a judicial mandate to increase school funding outside, but perhaps not inside, New York City.
Also soaring in the downstate suburbs: police employment, both among officers and others, even though it was already sky-high relative to the national average in 2002, like education employment. Not because there is a crime wave in those suburbs, but because the pay is so high, and the actual crime that has to be dealt with so limited, there is enormous demand for the positions, which suburban politicians are happy to meet. There is a crime problem in some of the Upstate Metro counties, but they can’t afford all those officers, so their number relative to population is actually falling, although it was already below the U.S. average.
There was also a surge in public hospital employment in the downstate suburbs, which may be artificial, perhaps a result of hospitals being privatized and then falling back onto the county’s books. I believe that may have happened to Nassau Medical Center, Westchester Medical Center, or both.
Mass transit employment is rising relative to population in the areas of the state outside New York City, but falling inside New York City. It is interesting that it increased in the downstate suburbs and decreased in NYC, given that in both locations transit is organized by the same MTA. The data shows where the transit workers work. If it showed where they live, mass transit employment — and retiree payments — would be overwhelmingly located in the suburbs rather than in New York City. (The same may be said of the police). Some of the dedicated MTA taxes city residents pay, it has been reported, have been diverted to upstate transit agencies, which have also been adding jobs relative to population. In Rochester, they cut the fare.
The big transportation employment upstate, however, is on the road crews. Like the public schools, this is a source of employment that is supported in large part by state taxes, taxes collected, in part, elsewhere. Local government highway employment per 100,000 residents is three times the national average in rural areas of New York State during March, perhaps due to extensive snow clearance here at a time when seasonal construction crews are off duty in more southern climes. It didn’t rise further from 2002 to 2007. But in the Upstate Metro counties, it rose 11.1%, despite being 50% higher than the national average in 2002.
Showing once again how the rest of the state couldn’t be more different than New York City, parks, recreation and culture employment per 100,000 residents, one of the two categories to rise in NYC, fell 8.9% in the Downstate Suburbs, 6.9% in the Upstate Metro counties, and 5.1% in the rest of the state. We can only guess what, therefore, is coming — the PTAR — the park tax reform program, with cuts to New York City’s share of school aid to shift the money to pay for property tax rebates for money used for park.