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HENNIKER, N.H. — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew his presidential bid, he returned to his day job in Tallahassee, where the Republican-controlled Legislature weighed in on his wish list and state budget scope. deciding what to do with it.
During his presidential campaign and back in Florida, Mr. DeSantis was focused on promoting his role as administrator of his home state. Mr. DeSantis made the same points about the state’s lean state government in both his State of the Union address and his last speech in New Hampshire.
“Florida has the lowest number of state employees per capita in the nation,” DeSantis told a CNN town hall audience at the University of New England on January 16.
Florida’s small state workforce has been around long before DeSantis. His predecessor, a Republican, is currently a senator. Rick Scott also boasted about the state’s low per capita ratio of public employees.
DeSantis’ office did not respond to PolitiFact’s inquiries, but the statement appears to come from an annual report by the Florida Department of Management Services, the state agency that handles labor issues for state employees.
Other statistical analyzes published by independent groups that consider local government employees show that while Florida has a lower rate of state employees per capita than most states, it is not the lowest.
State report supports DeSantis
The Florida Department of State report covered July 2021 through June 2022 and used several different measures of state government employment and compared it to the state’s population. (Florida’s current population is 22.6 million.)
One metric uses the total of full-time and part-time employees, which totaled 164,829 positions in 2022. At 96 people per 10,000 people, Florida ranks among the lowest in the nation, ahead of Nevada, Illinois, and Texas. And Arizona. The national average was 198 state government employees per 10,000 residents, according to the report.
The agency also calculated the ratio using full-time equivalent employees, which converts part-time employees to the equivalent number of full-time positions. Florida also had the lowest ratio on this measure, with 82 state government employees per 10,000 residents. The national average was 164 workers per 10,000 residents.
Independent ratings seem a little different
But when you count both state and local officials, Florida doesn’t stand alone.
In some states where state government labor costs are low, jobs could be transferred to local governments, effectively reducing the number of employees listed in the state employee column. This appears to be the case in Florida as well.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, which works primarily with Republican state legislators to pass conservative legislation, does an annual calculation similar to Florida’s, but states The number of local government employees is used.
The group’s latest State Economic Competitiveness Index ranked Florida third lowest in the nation, behind Nevada and Arizona. Florida had fewer than 409 state and local employees per 10,000 people.
In recent iterations of the index, Florida was near the bottom of the nation, but by no means last. Every year since 2016 (during DeSantis’ tenure as governor), Florida has ranked third from the bottom, behind Nevada and Arizona.
Howard Frank, a public policy and administration professor at Florida International University, said the lack of a state income tax could be one reason for Florida’s low state government employee ratio. Of the 10 states with the lowest rates in the Florida Department of State’s study, four have no state income tax: Florida, Nevada, Texas, and Tennessee.
Frank said that compared to some states, Florida has been aggressive in privatizing state government functions, noting that the state tried to dismantle the Department of Health and Rehabilitation in 1996. . This meant that the ministry’s approximately 25,000 employees were removed from the government’s rolls virtually overnight.
Disadvantages of low ratio
Although Mr. DeSantis proudly points to this metric, there are downsides to the low percentage of government employees.
For example, agencies in Florida often suffer from staff shortages, with high turnover rates and departments overwhelmed with bloated caseloads.
The shortage is even posing a security threat at state prisons, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Times. According to the paper, the state was short of thousands of correctional officers and at one time had to rely on the Florida National Guard to maintain order inside its prisons.
As of October 2022, 28 of 29 state agencies had double-digit vacancy rates, according to responses to a public records request from the Tampa Bay Times. These vacancies were in key departments such as education, states, senior affairs, veterans affairs, and the Office of Persons with Disabilities.
Florida’s rapid population growth in recent years has not only resulted in more residents requesting services, but also in a state that is generally a low-wage state, with Florida’s population increasing by 4.7% in the past three years alone. This also means an increase in housing prices.
“The bigger picture may suggest that the state is becoming too much for ‘Indigenous people’ to afford, regardless of government employment,” Frank said.
our verdict
DeSantis said Florida “has the lowest number of state employees per capita in the country.”
A recent report from the Florida Department of Government found that Florida has the fewest state government employees per capita among the 50 states, measured by two different measures of employee numbers. This trend predates DeSantis’ appointment as governor.
The independent group’s calculations show that when state and local government employees are combined, Florida generally ranks low, but not completely at the bottom.
This statement is accurate, but requires additional information. We rate his claims to be mostly true.
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