Black Gov't Worker Layoffs

The New York Times weighed in with a story last week that repeats a theme we've heard semi-regularly since government-worker layoffs started in earnest two years ago, namely that the downsizing of state and local government is having a disproportionate impact on the economic fortunes of blacks because they are overly represented in government jobs. The Times even quotes someone saying that the impact is so great we should pause and consider it before further layoffs. Yet the Times' story, repeating a theme that even some fiscal conservatives have echoed, is short on facts and ignores the actual government data on public sector employment, which shows something quite different.