Report says state payroll has grown by 10 percent

A new state report shows the state government payroll has grown by over 10 percent in the past seven years. Most of the growth — 61 percent — came as prison guards and other workers were hired to staff new state prisons in Clarinda, Fort Dodge and Newton. As of June 30th, there were just over 20-thousand full-time workers on the state executive branch payroll. Iowa Department of Personnel spokeswoman Julie Economaki says there aren’t that many state workers employed today. She says they aren’t filling new jobs as they come open. Most executive branch employees do not work in Des Moines, but there are employees in every single county of the state. Just over one-third of state workers are employed in Polk County. The report does not include employees for the Regents universities in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City, nor does it include those who work in community-based corrections.