State’s worker makeup shifts

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 23, 2009 - Page: 1A

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The number of better-paid, politically appointed, fire-at-will state government employees has climbed dramatically in recent years, according to the Louisiana Department of State Civil Service.

Meanwhile, the number of lower-paid, rank-and-file, classified employees generally has been declining.

Louisiana government’s employment agency reports that the number of the state’s unclassified employees has risen by 22 percent between 2002 and 2009. The classified work force has dropped 8 percent over the same eight-year period.

Also, unclassified employees make an average of about $20,000 more annually than classified employees, the latest Civil Service numbers show.

Facing a budgetary shortfall of nearly $1 billion less revenues to pay for government services in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010, Louisiana lawmakers are seeking ways to reduce spending. They are looking hard at the number of state government workers.

The jobs of classified employees are legally protected from the politics of changeovers in governors’ administrations.

Unclassified employees have no similar job protection. They can be hired and fired at will. Many of those posts are found in executive offices and on college campuses.

“I’d like to know why … the dramatic shift from classified to unclassified,” said Public Affairs Research Council President Jim Brandt. “The unclassified are usually the political appointed members of the state work force.

“It does raise some interesting questions,” he added.

Brandt said it is time to get behind the numbers and find out exactly where the unclassified jobs are located and how they came into being.

Today, there are 61,182 classified Civil Service employees — 5,000 workers fewer than at the close of the 2002 state fiscal year. Their average salary is $40,988.

Meanwhile, unclassified employees now total 31,427 — nearly 5,700 more over the same time period. Their average salary is $60,854.

“The aggregate number of employees has remained pretty consistent, but it’s beginning to be a different makeup of employees,” said Civil Service director Shannon Templet. “I don’t know why the difference is so large. … I really haven’t analyzed the data.”