State and local employment increased in many sectors but did not return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Overall, state and local government employment grew 4.1 percent from 2021 to 2023, adding just 772,000 employees, down 176,000 from 2020 levels.

Elementary and secondary education, which suffered the largest numerical loss during the recession in March 2021, also experienced the largest numerical gain during the recovery, adding only 452,000 employees, or 6.1 percent, in 2023. , surpassing 2020 levels by nearly 6,000 employees.

Higher education employment rose 4.8 percent, adding about 147,000 jobs. Parks and recreation also gained 17.0% or just over 62,000 jobs from 2021 to 2023. Both are still below March 2019 employment levels.

gave Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll Provides more information about state and local government employees and the services they provide through annual statistics on the number of state and local government civilian employees and their gross pay for the month of March.