Local Government Fragmentation & the Local Public Sector: A Public Employment Approach

This study analyzes the influence of fragmentation and concentration variables on the per capita size of the local public workforce for all counties in the United States from 1982 to 2002. Consistent with recent research, this analysis incorporates measures of fragmentation and concentration in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Additionally, this analysis explicitly takes into account the potential simultaneity between individual preferences for the spatial arrangement of local governments and the size of the local public workforce using the element of time. The result suggest that increased levels of fragmentation lead to a decrease in the size of the local public workforce; however, the results are complex. Concentration of the local public workforce into counties and special purpose governments tend to increase the overall local public workforce.