<p>Exemptions allow 9,000 to join the rolls even as the deficit grows. More than 9,000 new workers joined the state payroll under a hiring freeze imposed by Gov. Gray Davis as state finances hit the skids last fall.</p>
<p>In the five months after the freeze began in October, state hiring was down just 29 percent compared with the same period the previous year, a Bee analysis found.</p>