September 2009, Matt Sherman and Nathan Lane
In the current recession, millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Unemployment has increased nationwide to levels not witnessed since the 1980s. This issue brief tallies more than 110,000 jobs that have been shed from state and local governments in the last two years and breaks them down by state (and metropolitan area where available). Without the stimulus passed in February of this year, there would have been many more layoffs at the the state and local level.