California's state work force grew
Find a Conversation
| Mon, 03-16-2009 - 4:21pm |
Despite a hiring freeze and no money, California has managed to keep growing its state civil service ranks.
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1702192.html?mi_rss=Top%20Stories
California's state work force grew despite budget woes and cut promises
California state government's full-time work force continues to grow despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to freeze hiring amid a historic budget shortfall.
From June 2008 to February 2009, most state agencies either increased or kept the same number of full-time employees, according to a Bee analysis of personnel data. The state also failed to lay off as many part-time employees during the crisis as promised by the governor.
While legislators and Schwarzenegger debated how to close a $40 billion budget deficit, 66 state agencies saw a net gain of full-time employees, 35 kept the same number of employees and 55 lost employees, data from the state controller's office show.
The overall number of full-time state employees increased by roughly 2,000, or 1 percent, excluding the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, which always shrinks sharply outside of fire season, the figures show.
While the increase is modest compared with other years, it clashes with the belief that the state work force must shrink to meet the current economic downturn and resulting drop in state revenue.
Last month, the two leading Republican candidates for governor criticized the budget deal because it relied, in part, on tax increases and not on substantially reducing the state work force.
Ted Costa of People's Advocate, a government watchdog group, said slowing bureaucratic growth isn't good enough.
"Government needs to be cut, squeezed and streamlined. It needs to get smaller," Costa said. "Instead, the governor is doing stylistic things, like getting rid of lower-paid part-time help, instead of doing something substantial."
But Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the trend shows the governor successfully tamped down government growth, especially since the recession has increased demand for services such as unemployment assistance and state-sponsored health care.
The Employment Development Department, which handles unemployment claims, added 101 full-time employees, a 1.3 percent increase, during the eight months analyzed by The Bee. Its part-time pool shrank 12 percent, down 110 positions, the data show.
"The fact that we've been able to maintain the overall size of state government while demand on state services has increased, demonstrates that the governor has been able to make cuts where we can," McLear said.
Some of those cuts came last summer after Schwarzenegger ordered layoffs of what were then estimated to be 10,000 part-time and temporary employees to ease the state's general fund budget woes. In fact, the net loss of part-time employees during the crisis was 6,300 – less than two-thirds the amount predicted by the governor.
And increases in full-time state employment – again, excluding Cal Fire – progressed steadily throughout the budget crisis. Most months between June and February saw net gains of a few hundred employees.
At any given time, roughly 1 percent of the state's work force is on leave. That number fluctuates only slightly from month to month or year to year, according to a Bee analysis of several years' worth of data from the controller's office.
Some individual agency employment figures may be affected slightly by transfers. Over the course of a year, about 5 percent of the state's work force transfers from one department to another, the Bee's analysis found.
It's hard to shrink government bureaucracies quickly, so it's no surprise that California's full-time work force continued to grow slightly during rough times, said Guy Peters professor of American government at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of "The Politics of Bureaucracy."
"One person's fat is another person's program," said Peters, adding that most state workers are tied to particular services, so policymakers often can't shrink payroll without reducing programs.
Some government services are mandated, Peters said, making them especially tough to cut. Also, Peters noted, state worker unions in California are strong and crossing them isn't easy.
The California Highway Patrol added roughly 275 full-time employees between June and February, state figures show. That's a growth rate of roughly 3 percent.
CHP officials had long ago obtained funding for new officers, and three new officer academy classes graduated during that period.
"We hadn't seen an increase in staffing in 30-plus years," said CHP spokeswoman Jaime Coffee. "California has grown. There are more registered vehicles, so we were understaffed on patrol."
"The bigger the (CHP) presence out there, people tend to slow down," she added.
Another CHP officer academy class will graduate in May, Coffee said, predicting further growth in the CHP's ranks. Most of the CHP's budget comes from vehicle registration and driver's license fees, instead of the general fund.
Cal Fire dropped more than 2,400 employees from June through January, but just a couple hundred of those job cuts were related to the budget, fire officials said.
"We have approximately 2,200 seasonal firefighters," said Daniel Berlant, a Cal Fire spokesman, adding that the department's ranks will likely increase again during the summer wildfire season.

Considering that it appears that the resident population was growing, how would California cut personnel, especially if the personnel were involved in social services, highways/roads, police/fire/ems/safety/health?