Budget woes in states across the U.S. are due to the recession and the crash of the housing market – not public sector workers and their unions, a new study concludes.

The share of state and local government jobs in the overall workforce has remained relatively steady and there is no correlation between union density and the size of state budget deficits, data in a report by the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Wage and Employment Dynamics show.

The findings reinforce previous research that shows public-sector compensation is not the cost-driver behind large state budget deficits.

Public-sector compensation, including pay and benefits, has declined as a share of state expenditures – to 20 percent in 2009 from 23 percent in 1992. Public-sector compensation is the same or less than that of similar private-sector workers, after taking into account levels of education, experience and other important factors, studies show.

The public-sector share of the workforce has hovered about 14.5 percent since 1979, report coauthor Sylvia Allegretto said in a media call Thursday. But the cost of employing a worker in the private sector increased 14.7 percent between 2004 and 2009, while it increased 12.6 percent in the public sector.

“It certainly doesn’t seem that government workers are the cause of these huge deficits in state budgets,” Allegretto said.

The report responds to arguments cited in as many as a dozen states that have enacted anti-union legislation. Proponents have justified the measures by pointing to state budget deficits.

Ohio votes will decide “Issue 2” on Nov. 8, a referendum on a law that limits collective bargaining for government unions in that state.