A range of public workforce changes, which include layoffs, have been implemented by state and local governments to address the effects of the Great Recession. These layoffs have received much attention from policy makers, the media, public employees, and the public in general. Also, within the context of the broader US economy’s employment situation, it has been suggested that the persistently high overall unemployment rate in the US has been driven, in part, by these public sector layoffs.

So what does the current BLS data show about the state and local layoff situation since the beginning of the recession and over the past year? As can be seen in Figure 1, when focusing on layoffs and discharges rates (layoffs and discharges as a percent of total employment), there continues to be a slight upward trend in the rate since the beginning of 2008. That said, when looking at the rate over just the past year (Figure 2), the layoff and discharge rate has been decreasing.