Most local governments haven’t been hiring much lately, though, when they are it’s typically in finance-related roles. In Louisiana however, municipalities have increased hiring in finance jobs by 11.5% from 2014 to 2017, Governing reports.
Louisiana was among just nine states that reported the increased financial employee hiring, and it placed fifth. Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Washington also reported increases.
The latest data from the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll shows that employees working in finance-related roles increased 5.4% nationwide between 2014 and 2017, the highest of any workforce category tracked in the survey.
Finance jobs peaked in 2008, subsequently declined as governments made recession-era cuts and then changed little until 2016. Since then, they’ve expanded at roughly double the rate of total local public-sector employment when education jobs are excluded. Other areas of local government experiencing noticeable growth, albeit at a slower pace, include transit, fire departments, parks and recreation.
