Surprise surprise

‘The last thing we need right now’: States, cities hemorrhage jobs

Governors and local officials are struggling to meet payrolls amid a pandemic that has dramatically hiked government costs and sapped tax revenues. The U.S. shed 585,000 government jobs in May almost entirely at the state and local level, even as the rest of the economy began to show signs of recovery.
Now state and local governments are looking to Congress for help as lawmakers begin to consider another round of economic aid. The job losses in government — which totaled more than 1.5 million in two months, according to Labor Department data — could get worse without a federal backstop, state officials and some members of Congress say.