When Mayor Bloomberg presented his last budget plan in November, he noted that the city’s full-time and full-time equivalent headcount had fallen by 15,368 since December 31, 2001. But looking at staffing levels since the end of fiscal year 2002, which marks the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg’s first full-year budget, the numbers are somewhat different.
From June 30, 2002 through June 30, 2013, city staffing decreased by 9,028 positions and totaled 295,894 by the end of fiscal year 2013, a 3.0 percent decline.

• For many agencies, there was little change in staffing from June 30, 2002.
• Two areas of the budget accounted for the largest decrease in staffing, the education department and uniformed services.
• The largest decrease—4,607 positions—occurred in uniformed services, including 1,986 police officers (a decline of 5.4 percent), 1,141 fire fighters (10.1 percent) and 1,645 correction officers (15.5 percent).
• The education department saw a decrease of 4,496 positions (3.3 percent), of which 2,528 were teachers and professional staff.

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