Public sector employment continues its decline

The New York Times has an interesting article (see here) on the continued decline of employment in the public sector.  Now I know there are many people who celebrate this (in fact, who seem to think that public sector employment is somehow "anti-capitalist"), but regardless of your view of the public sector, continued decline in employment there doesn't help the economy overall.  The article's author points out that "If governments still employed the same percentage of the work force as they did in 2009, the unemployment rate would be a percentage point lower, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics. At the pace so far this year, layoffs will siphon off $15 billion in spending power. Yale economists have said that if state and local governments had followed the pattern of previous recessions, they would have added at least 1.4 million jobs."  See the chart below.