State and Local Government Statistics at a Crossroads (2007) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-18
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 11... ...
The division provides data on major aspects of the finances of the federal government and state and local governments. Its principal role in the economy and for the public sector is the provision of data on the characteristics, finances, and employment of state and local governments.
|
From page 12... ...
collectively accounts for 12 percent of gross domestic product and is more than all of the federal government's nonmilitary expenditures -- $1.9 trillion compared with $1.5 trillion in fiscal year 2004. State and local governments employ 1 in 7 workers -- more than 18 million jobs in all, and seven times as many civilian workers as the federal government employs.
|
From page 13... ...
With financial assistance from the federal government, states decide whether and how to provide training, child care, and other assistance that may help the needy find jobs and become self sustaining, and they decide whether to provide cash assistance and other kinds of benefits. • State and local governments are the front line of homeland secu rity.
|
From page 14... ...
The federal government has devolved significant authority to state and local governments in many areas, especially in programs that serve the poor, at the same time that it has scaled back its own direct spending in these areas. The state and local sector has grown dramatically for at least the last five decades, nearly doubling relative to the total U.S.
|
From page 15... ...
The absence of any requirement to provide information, together with the knowledge that any information provided will undergo public scrutiny, appears to deter state and local government officials from complying fully with requests from the Governments Division. Although they have shortcomings that are detailed in this report, the Governments Division data on state and local governments are the current gold standard for information on government finances and employment: • They are the main source that can be used to describe the whole of government -- federal, state, and local -- so that decision makers and the public can understand how one level of government relates to the others and how funds flow among the levels.
|
From page 16... ...
This reduction led to the elimination of these data on local governments for those years and made it difficult for researchers and others to understand how state and local governments responded to the fiscal crises they confronted early in the decade. ISSUES FOR THE PANEL The panel was asked to conduct its review so as to contribute to a strategic planning process, which is being conducted not only for the Governments Division, but also throughout the Census Bureau's Economic Directorate, of which the division is a part.
|
From page 17... ...
The panel urges the leaders of the Census Bureau to initiate both short-term and long-term studies, as specified in this report, of the priorities and balance of the Governments Division's work. These studies should reflect the distinctive character and purposes of the division's dual role of providing inputs to national economic indicators and detailed information on state and local government activities.
|
From page 18... ...
OUTLINE OF THE REPORT Following this introduction, Chapter 2 provides a brief history of the collection of state and local government data by the federal government, a description of the current base and reimbursable Governments Division program, issues relating to defining and classifying governments (a central role of the division) , and a discussion of the effects of constrained budgets on the division's core or base programs.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.