Employment Trends - Growth In Government = Education

Fairly rapid growth in employment in public elementary and secondary education (K-12) has outstripped the increase in students enrolled in the 1992 to 2000 period. Teachers and staff increased at an annual, compounded rate of 2.9%. Student enrollments have increased at 1.3%. The data above are shown in log scale so that growth patterns can be easily compared despite differences in scale.

This increase in employment at the K-12 end of public education is the single most important factor in increasing overall "government" employment. Public school staff is classified as "government" in all of the federal reporting systems. School employment at the local level increased 6.5 times as much as all other employment at the local government level. And local government, the largest employer in the government sector, experienced the strongest growth in employment. Federal employment actually declined from 2.7 million in 1992 to 2.4 million in 2000.

Interestingly, the growth in "government" can thus be led back to parents' desire for smaller class size. In this period (1992-2000), public elementary and secondary ratios, pupils to all staff, not just teachers, declined from 9 per staff member to 8.

Lest this be thought an exaggeration, consider the following. Between 1992 and 2000, the government sector increased by 1.3 million jobs (using the more conservative U.S. Census data). Public Elementary and High School Education accounted for 91% (1.2 million jobs) of that change. If gains in higher education are added (which are concentrated at the state level), Public Education accounted for all gains in the Government Sector.

The following table provides the numerical picture for both K-12 and higher publicly funded education:

Analysis of Growth Trends in Public Education

	Growth in Employment (% per year, 1992-00)	Growth in Enrollment (% per year, 1992-00)	Ratio, students to staff, 1992	Ratio, students to staff, 2000
Elementary and High	2.87	1.31	9.0	8.0
Colleges and Universities	1.40	0.40	8.9	8.3

Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Public Employment and Payroll. Online. Available: http://www.census.gov/govs/www/apes.html. December 21, 2001. Values for 1996 are extrapolated. School enrollment data: National Center for Education Statistics, published in Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000 Table 239, p. 151.