"Thanks to the sequester and continuing budget battles, federal employment continues to fall. In May the federal government cut 14,000 positions. In the past year, federal government employment has fallen by 73,000, or about 2.6 percent. But something is changing. As we’ve noted, state and local finances are improving, in some cases dramatically, with many states now reporting surpluses. The continued improvement is reducing the pressure on state and local governments to cut jobs. And indeed, in May, state and local governments added a combined 11,000 positions. (States cut 2,000 jobs while local governments added 13,000.)"