Workforce Capacity in Municipal Government

Abstract

AbstractThe central aim of this article is to examine trends in the municipal government workforce in metropolitan (urban) areas. It explores, from a local public economies perspective, how the intergovernmental organization of municipalities influences their workforce capacities. The article situates the local labor market in state‐local systems and examines how local governments respond to fragmentation in a metropolitan area. The main finding is that the employment capacity of municipalities varies widely across metro areas, with local and intergovernmental factors affecting municipal workforces and labor expenditures. Local capacities and the state's labor framework appear to be influential in the level of government employment. Facing various challenges, municipalities adapt their workforce levels to changing conditions in urban areas. While its main contribution is to research on local government capacity, the article also draws from the intergovernmental literature to identify factors that influence the workforce capacity of municipal governments.