NJ Cuts 9,100 State Workers Since Recession Began [AUDIO]

State governments across the country have cut more than 80,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession, reflecting steep drops in tax revenue and providing a drag on the economies in many parts of the country, the Associated Press has found. Data collected by AP reporters in all 50 states show the number of government employees has declined along with per-capita general fund spending. The national average of state employees per 1,000 people has dropped from 8.1 to 7.6, thanks to layoffs and hiring freezes since the 2007-08 budget year.

State workers have been at the center of some of the most heated debates this year over the appropriate size and scope of government. Those debates will resume in 2012, especially as many states continue to struggle with budget deficits and seek to reform public pension benefits.

New Jersey is spending $615 less on each resident than in 2007, when it was spending about $4,000. The state has cut the third largest amount of state workers, at 9,100.

Bill Dressel, executive director of the NJ League of Municipalities says he doesn't expect much of a change in the new year. "There seems to be the same type of dynamics at play in 2012 as there was in 2011."

Dressel says state and local governments still have to look at ways to reduce our reliance on property taxes while continuing to provide quality of life services. "Its not getting any easier, towns are sharing services, doing privatization, but that alone will not deal with the problem...we also have to look at educational funding, which is something we have tackled yet in the state."

Click here for an Associated Press interactive on this story.