Complete Report

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Executive Summary

This report analyzes payroll expenditures and employment levels in 57 of the 58 counties in California. (The County of San Francisco was excluded because San Francisco is both a city and a county.) Selected employment categories and related payroll expenditure data as defined and collected by the United States Census Bureau, and data obtained from other sources, were analyzed to create this report.

Key Findings

• Total payroll expenditures for county government in California increased from approximately $12.1 billion in 1997 to over $17.9 billion in 2002, an increase of almost 48% (see page 11).
  
  
• Per capita county payroll expenditure for each man, woman and child in California rose over 37% in this five year period, while the total statewide aggregate number of county employees per thousand citizens increased a little less than 7% (see page 13).
  
  
• Statewide, payroll expenditures for welfare system employees increased over 72% between 1997 and 2002 (see page 11).
  
  
• Statewide, payroll expenditures for police personnel (both sworn and non-sworn) increased 32% between 1997 and 2002 (see page 11).
  
  
• In most counties (91%), per capita payroll expenditures for welfare system employees increased more rapidly than per capita personal income (see page 19).
  
  
• Generally speaking, payroll expenditures increased much more rapidly than the number of FTE employees (see page 23).
  
  
• The number of welfare recipients in California decreased by over 55% between 1997 and 2002, while the total number of welfare system employees increased 36% and the payroll expenditures for those welfare system employees (as noted in Item 3 above) increased 72% (see page 27).
  
  
• In Los Angeles County, between 1997 and 2002 the number of CalWorks welfare recipients declined 40% while the payroll expenditures for welfare system employees increased 66% (see page 29).