As the Great Recession has roiled most sectors of state government, it makes perfect sense that the number of Alabama state employees has dropped precipitously.

Goat Hill-mandated hiring freezes have stemmed nearly all flows of new hires. Layoffs have trimmed departments. Virtually every division of state government is well into total lock-down mode.

No hirings. No extra spending. No to anything sporting a price tag.

Why should you care?

There are substantive, real-world reasons.

Medicaid patients may have experienced a slowdown in requests for new applications or re-certifications.

Farmers and those who rely on the state agriculture department may have seen significant delays in that agency's response times.

Anyone who works with the state Department of Human Resources may have seen a change in that agency's manpower. Think child-abuse investigations, foster-care services and federal food-assistance programs.

Necessary state inspections of everything from gas stations to grocery stores aren't conducted as often as they should be.

Historians, archivists, educators and students who need access to state archives have fewer opportunities to search for information. Most of the department's Saturday office hours were discontinued during the height of the recession.

On and on it goes. Examples can be found anywhere within the vast reach of state government.

This week, The Birmingham News reported that the number of state employees dropped by more than 500 this year — the first decline in five years; with that drop, Alabama still has more than 38,000 employees. Ominously, state Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, told The News that he wouldn't be surprised if the decline rolls deep into 2010. That seems a logical, if not ironclad, assumption.

In other words, more layoffs, more departmental cuts, more months of hiring freezes for state agencies already laden with vacant positions.

The reason's evident: No one in state government expects next year's fiscal reality to be much different than today's. The economy's slowly, yet methodically, improving, but not at a rate that can throw state governments a needed lifeline. Revenue from tax receipts, where Alabama gets much of its funding, remains frighteningly low.

The good news is that Alabama isn't California, whose state budgets are in such disarray from economic doldrums and questionable policies that the state this year issued IOUs instead of tax refunds. Bankruptcy isn't on Alabama's horizon.

Nevertheless, the recession's effect on the everyday portions of state government — not the politicians, the real people — is profound. Every month that the downturn persists is another month in which state agencies struggle to perform basic and vital tasks.

That affects everyone. Thinking it doesn't is pure fallacy.