March 28, 2024

Economix: Private Sector Up, Government Down

DAVID LEONHARDT

DAVID LEONHARDT

Thoughts on the economic scene.

As weak as the economy has been in recent months, the private sector has still been adding jobs at a faster rate than the adult population has been growing. Over the last 12 months, the private-sector employment has grown by 1.7 percent, while the adult population has grown about 1 percent, according to Haver, a research firm, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Annual private-sector job growth (blue) vs. population growth (red).Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver AnalyticsAnnual private-sector job growth (blue) vs. population growth (red).

Yet the percentage of adults with jobs has been falling:

Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

How could this be? Because the government — especially state and local government — is cutting jobs:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e8fd08bc651049d472bca67323c4b5e6

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