Not only do Mississippians who choose careers as public servants provide valuable services to our communities, they also represent the largest employment sector in the state. Jobs in the public sector support a large portion of the state’s economy. These public servants spend their work days (or nights) serving as teachers or police officers, and on their way home they spend their paychecks in grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses in their communities.
Figure 1: Number of Mississippi Employees (in thousands) by Sector, March 2010
While government jobs make up the largest employment sector in the state, most government sector jobs in Mississippi are people employed by state and local governments. State and local jobs make up 89% of government jobs in Mississippi.
The largest number of public sector workers serve their home communities through local governments. More than half of those local government employees work in education.
With the new budget year underway, Mississippi’s public sector workers will be stretched even further as budget are shrunk and layoffs and furloughs implemented. In the near term, no better option to preserve these critical jobs exists than the fiscal relief provisions in the Senate jobs bill.
As Congress returns next week, its passage should be a priority.
Source: MEPC analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics