Oct. 20--Working for the government has provided more job security than the private sector during Michigan's long economic slowdown, according to a report released Monday by the Citizens Research Council.

But both the public and private sector have lost jobs since 2000, and the pace has accelerated in the past year, the report said.

Between 2000 and 2008, Michigan private-sector employment was down 12.1%, compared with 4.9% in the public sector, which includes all levels of government, public schools, universities and hospitals.

"Government employment tends to be a little more stable," said Craig Thiel, CRC's director of state affairs, who compiled the data.

Declines in tax revenue often trail declines in the overall economy, and governments tend to be slower than private employers in reacting to an economic crisis, he said. On the other hand, demand for many of the functions performed by government workers persists, or even increases, in a downturn, Thiel added.

"It's not that government hasn't taken its lumps; it has," he said. "They're just not as severe as what is going on in the rest of the economy."

In total, 827,400 jobs have vanished in Michigan since June 2000, according to the report, which was based on statistics compiled by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The CRC report found that while employment was flat or down for parts of the public workforce, it was up in others.

The number of jobs in local public schools, for instance, was down 12.4% between 2000-08.

Enrollment over roughly the same period declined 4.5%, according to state figures.

But public hospitals (up 26.7%) and universities (up 8.9%) added a significant number of jobs in the first decade of the 21st Century.

The report suggests demand for higher education increases in a downturn as displaced workers and others try to obtain marketable skills.

Michael Boulus, executive director of the university presidents' council, concurred with that assessment.

Enrollment at Michigan's 15 public universities increased by nearly 8%, to 293,649 between 2000 and 2008, he said.

"Enrollment is up, so faculty is probably up," Boulus said. "But operations are probably down."

Boulus said he believes overall employment levels at most of the universities have flattened or declined in the last year as the recession intensified and state aid was curtailed.

Thiel said the last 12-18 months have taken a heavy toll on employment numbers across the board, so the overall jobs pie is smaller. But the public sector share has grown from 14.6% to 15.6% since 2000, he said.

Balancing that trend, however, Thiel's report notes that an earlier CRC analysis found that Michigan -- as a percentage of the overall workforce -- has a relatively smaller public sector, ranking 45th among all states in 2006.

Contact DAWSON BELL: 517-372-8661 or dbell@freepress.com

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