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Table 3

Per Capita Total State Expenditure (1997 dollars), 1990­97

Increase,

State

1990­97

Rank

1997

Rank

1990

Rank

U.S. Total

18.6%

---

$3,340

---

$2,817

---

Greatest Spending Increase

Mississippi

43.0%

1

$3,298

26

$2,306

41

Oregon

39.9%

2

$3,819

13

$2,730

29

Arkansas

38.2%

3

$3,046

33

$2,204

45

West Virginia

36.3%

4

$3,935

12

$2,887

21

Texas

34.1%

5

$2,515

50

$1,876

50

Missouri

32.0%

6

$2,634

48

$1,995

49

New Hampshire

30.1%

7

$2,834

42

$2,179

46

Nebraska

29.2%

8

$2,898

38

$2,242

44

Pennsylvania

29.0%

9

$3,269

29

$2,533

32

Kentucky

28.1%

10

$3,313

24

$2,586

30

Smallest Spending Increase

Alaska

-9.8%

50

$9,392

1

$10,412

1

Arizona

-1.2%

49

$2,726

46

$2,760

26

Wyoming

-0.3%

48

$4,433

5

$4,446

2

Nevada

3.6%

47

$3,059

32

$2,953

19

Vermont

5.8%

46

$3,605

19

$3,406

9

New Jersey

7.6%

45

$3,655

16

$3,398

11

Maryland

9.9%

44

$3,180

30

$2,893

20

Rhode Island

10.0%

43

$4,053

9

$3,686

8

Massachusetts

10.2%

42

$4,216

7

$3,825

6

North Dakota

11.9%

41

$3,785

14

$3,383

12

·

Between 1990

State spending per $1,000 of personal

the 1990s than they did in the 1980s. In con-

income declined in six states: Wyoming

trast, private-sector nonfarm employment

and 1996 the

(10.7 percent), Alaska (9.3 percent),

growth has been slower than it was in the

number of state

Nevada (8.2 percent), Arizona (7.2 per-

1980s.

cent), North Dakota (6.4 percent), and

and local

· The number of state and local govern-

South Dakota (0.4 percent). In Wyoming

government

and Alabama that decline in spending

ment employees increased by 1.28 per-

employees grew

has been attributable to the decline in oil

cent per year in the 1980s. In the 1990s

prices.

state employment has accelerated to 1.48

from fewer than

percent per year.

15.4 million to

· Total nonfarm private-sector employ-

State and Local Bureaucracies in the 1990s

nearly 16.8

Between 1990 and 1996 the number of

ment growth declined from 1.91 percent

state and local government employees grew

per year in the 1980s to 1.46 percent per

million.

from fewer than 15.4 million to nearly 16.8

year in the 1990s.

· In the 1980s state and local government

million.8 That is an increase of 9.2 percent, or

1.5 percent per year. As Figure 6 shows, state

employment growth lagged behind total

and local bureaucracies are growing faster in

nonfarm employment growth (1.28 to

8