Change in Each Sector's share of US Labor Force During Recession

Click on this picture to make it larger. The data is originally from this article in the WSJ.

UPDATE: Even in California, the state government has hired more people.

As California businesses and local governments shed droves of jobs this past year, the state of California’s payroll ballooned by thousands of new hires.

In the 12 months that ended in June, the state enlisted 3,600 additional workers — a 0.7 percent gain, according to the state Employment Development Department.

California’s private industry slashed about 760,000 jobs — a 6-percent loss — during the same period. Local governments shrunk by 1.5 percent.

“Obviously not every hire that the state makes is unreasonable, but as a trend it’s a total indication of the problem that we have that the state doesn’t live within its means,” said Scott Macdonald, spokesman for Californians Against Higher Taxes.

As San Bernardino County’s unemployment rate soars to 13.6 percent — with more than 17,000 searching for work in the High Desert — critics are deploring state growth that seems to defy a state cash-flow crisis amid a brutal recession. . . .

More on how government jobs have grown during the last year from the New York Times:

"While the private sector has shed 6.9 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, state and local governments have expanded their payrolls and added 110,000 jobs . . ."