THINK TANK: CALIFORNIA'S IS ONE OF LEANEST WORK FORCES.Byline: HARRISON SHEPPARD Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO -- While critics believe California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). state government is bloated bloat·ed adj. 1. Much bigger than desired: a bloated bureaucracy; a bloated budget. 2. Medicine Swollen or distended beyond normal size by fluid or gaseous material. , a new analysis from a Silicon Valley think tank suggests the state has one of the leanest work forces in the country. Census data released this week shows California had 393,609 full-time-equivalent employees as of last March, working out to 105 employees per 10,000 state residents, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. That makes California the third-lowest in the nation in state employees per resident, behind every state except Illinois Illinois, river, United States Illinois, river, 273 mi (439 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, NE Ill., and flowing SW to the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill. It is an important commercial and recreational waterway. (at 103) and Nevada (at 104). The federal government has 142 employees per 10,000 residents. "It does suggest that at least compared to other states, we're not carrying a lot of extra employees," said center director Stephen Levy. But Levy cautioned that the analysis does not necessarily mean California government operates as efficiently as it can. And he noted that employee salaries in California tend to be higher than most other states', partly because of the high cost of living. Some conservative critics believe those high salary levels are fueling laxity laxity /lax·i·ty/ (lak´si-te) 1. slackness or looseness; a lack of tautness, firmness, or rigidity. 2. slackness or displacement in the motion of a joint.lax´ laxity looseness. in state government employees. State Sen. Tom McClintock Thomas Miller "Tom" McClintock (born July 10, 1956 in White Plains, New York) is a California State Senator. He ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election of Gray Davis and finished third out of 135 candidates with 13.5% of the overall vote. , R-Thousand Oaks, said that simply because of economies of scale, least-populated states tend to have the most employees per resident while larger states automatically rank near the bottom. McClintock said California actually should rank at the bottom and has the highest average salary figures for state employees -- far higher than other states with similar cost-of-living levels. "What the numbers are actually telling us is there is a great deal of fat that can be cut from state bureaucracy," McClintock said. "Quite the opposite of the conclusion they're reaching." McClintock said California's average monthly payroll works out to about $5,211 per employee. By comparison, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of state pays around $4,750 per employee every month and the federal government pays about $3,945. The study comes four years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] ran for office in the 2003 recall and vowed to make state government leaner and more efficient. harrison.sheppard@dailynews.com (916) 446-6723 CAPTION(S): chart Chart: Where does California rank? SOURCE: Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy |
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