State Government Employment Trends
The ranks of Louisiana state government workers have reached pre-pandemic levels, topping more than 62,000 workers in the last fiscal year and matching the employment levels of 2020, according to data from the Louisiana Department of State Civil Service, the central human resources agency for the state.
The department tracks the total number of employees in terms of full-time equivalents, adjusting the number of workers to full-time positions. For example, an employee working 40 hours per week is one full-time equivalent while two employees each working 20 hours per week are combined as one full-time equivalent for the data.
Over the last four budget years, the total number of state workers increased by 5%, from 59,444 to 62,436. Looking back further to the 2015-16 year, state employment has grown 1.8%, according to civil service data.
Full-Time Equivalent State Employees
Source: Louisiana State Civil Service
State employees fall into two categories, classified and unclassified employees.
Classified workers receive civil service protections and fall under rules that require competitive hiring, minimum qualification standards and salaries tied to pay scales for job categories. The employees can only be disciplined or fired under prescribed rules governing due process rights. They have limitations on political activity.
Unclassified workers are at-will employees who are not subject to hiring and compensation standards set by the civil service department, can participate in political activities and can be fired without cause or due process – with some exceptions, such as for higher education faculty.
About 57% of all state employees are in the classified state service. More than 35,000 state workers were classified as of June 30, 2025, according to civil service data.
The department also tracks the number of classified state employees who leave their jobs because they resigned, retired or died – defined as “voluntary turnover.”
Historical Voluntary Turnover Rates by Fiscal Year
Source: Louisiana State Civil Service
Over the last four fiscal years, Louisiana has seen a slower rate of such turnover after reaching 5,148 departures in 2022, according to a civil service report reviewing why classified workers leave their jobs. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, there were 4,561 voluntary separations, a turnover rate of nearly 13%.
The agency’s report doesn’t include similar data for unclassified state employees, temporary classified employees or transfers to other agencies.
State Agencies with Highest Voluntary Turnover Rates, Fiscal Year 2025
Source: Louisiana State Civil Service
The percentage of Louisiana workers choosing to leave state employment each year varies by agency, with the state’s adult and youth prison departments seeing the highest turnover. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which manages five nursing homes for Louisiana’s veterans among its many duties, also had voluntary turnover rates above 20%.
In the last budget year, 918 of the 4,561 resignations, retirements or deaths of state workers were in the corrections department, representing 20% of all voluntary turnover across all state departments, according to the civil service data. The Office of Juvenile Justice saw an even greater turnover rate, with 187 of its workers, or nearly 24%, leaving the agency.