2007 Census of Governments Counts 16 Million State and Local Employees
" The nation’s 89,526 state and local governments employed 16.4 million full-time equivalent employees in 2007, a 4.5 percent increase from 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

These State and Local Government Employment and Payroll figures are the first comprehensive data to be released from the 2007 Census of Governments. Local governments include counties, cities, townships, special districts and school districts. Individual state descriptions of government structures are available online.

Local governments accounted for 12.1 million full-time equivalent employees, and state governments had 4.3 million. The number of full-time equivalent employees is equal to the number of hours worked by part-time employees divided by the standard number of hours for a full-time employee. The result is then added to the number of full-time employees.

Most full-time equivalent state and local employees worked in education (8.8 million), hospitals (989,000), police protection (933,000) and corrections (731,000)..."