The Labor Department’s latest figures show that local governments cut 267,000 jobs and state governments cut 24,000 jobs from May 2010 to May 2011.

Pasadena, CA -- (SBWire) -- 06/23/2011 --A new report from the Brookings Institution warns that mass layoffs of government workers could end up threatening the fragile economic recovery underway.

The report highlights the fact that 19 out of the 20 metro areas which saw strong economies since 2007 were areas where government hiring was strong. Also, out of the 20 worst hit metro areas, 13 had big losses in government jobs. Most of the government workforce is composed of city and state employees.

The Labor Department's latest figures show that local governments cut 267,000 jobs and state governments cut 24,000 jobs from May 2010 to May 2011. As of May 2011, the local governments employed 14.16 million Americans.

The recently concluded US Conference of Mayors noted that a quarter of America's metro areas have unemployment rates of over 10 percent and many cities are not going to see jobs return to their pre-recession level for a decade. At least 48 cities are going to be facing this "lost decade" till 2020, the Mayors' organization claimed in a report on Monday.

The cities with high unemployment rates are now stuck in a downward spiral. With unemployment high, the tax base is getting smaller and they have to cut services, resulting in even more layoffs. Most of the new government jobs are being created by the federal government. GovernmentCrossing, a job aggregator site, for jobs from various government organizations, has located over 23,000 jobs at all levels of government.