According to recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. governments added close to 77,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2008. The Federal government accounted for 13,800 of those and State and Local governments added 63,000. These new jobs arrived in spite of our country's current economic downturn and a time when spending growth in most states is slowing to a crawl and in some states major deficits are here or on their way.

Perhaps because of the incongruence of these jobs and the setting they have entered, they bring with them a sign of hope. Will state and local governments be the shoulder to lean on during this hopefully brief economic event? The increase in jobs in state and local governments can partially be attributed to the heightened demand for services due to steady population growth. Local governments are heavy on services that often increase in demand as economic times are tougher. This coupled with the much feared mass retirement of baby boomers is leading State and Locals to staff-up. While the new jobs are clearly a positive in the short-term, it is unrealistic to expect sustained growth in the government workforce.

A more realistic expectation for the State and Local workforce, especially in the context of IT workers, is continued moderate growth, the delayed or part-time retirement of Baby Boomers, and an increase in recruitment efforts to attract world-class employees.

This new workforce, along with the citizenry they represent, will demand modern processes and tools to carry out their jobs and to interact with their government. This will drive IT innovation around continued adoption of business management and business process best practices and will be one of the keys to allowing State and Local governments to transition and adapt in a time that may turn in to the largest re-invention of government service delivery.