Moneybox

The Public Sector Recession

Fact of the Day: “If government employment under Mr. Obama had grown at Reagan-era rates, 1.3 million more Americans would be working as schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., than are currently employed in such jobs.”

Now perhaps you’re not enthusiastic about public sector employment and you think the recent large decline in the number of people working for state and local government is a good thing. Good for you. But then you have to be consistent about this and argue that a fair amount of the weak labor market over the past few years represents a beneficial trend.