The job losses experienced by city and county governments in the wake of the COVID-induced recession demonstrate the severe budget challenges they face. Although state and local government relief have been grouped together in terms of a federal relief billl bill, states and localities are experiencing quite different fiscal realities.

NLC’s latest white paper on municipal job losses coincide with a year of COVID-19 related fiscal decline of local governments. The brief comes just as the Bureau of Labor Statistics March 5th 2021 jobs data release shows local governments lost another 44,000 jobs over the reporting period, adding to the more than 1 million state and local jobs lost compared to pre-pandemic employment levels.

America’s 19,000 cities, towns and villages are asking for the help provided to local governments in the American Rescue Plan Act.