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    How many people work for the US federal government? [OC]
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    How many people work for the US federal government? [OC]

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    3. USAFacts on

      I posted a similar chart a few weeks ago and several people wanted see how federal employment compares to the US population. I chatted with some folks here and landed on using a similar measure: federal employment compared to the size of the entire US workforce.

    5. RedditAddict6942O on

      But Fox News told me the government is a massive wasteful juggernaut that keeps growing!

    6. JackfruitCrazy51 on

      A few things I find interesting:

      Reagan ran on smaller government, but it only increased during his time. Maybe military? Just looked it up and during the 80’s about 75% of federal workers were military related. It’s now around 50%. Makes sense with the cold war ending.

      Besides census years, it looks like it’s remained pretty steady at around 2.75 million, with a recent jump to 3 million.

    8. Soccer_Vader on

      So, the federal governement is in-efficient because they have less man-power. Who would’ve thunk.

    11. fajfos on

      I guess the Xgovernment will gladly do what your current govermant can’t. Democracy secured.

    12. bareboneschicken on

      Government employees are only part of the picture. Full-time government contractors exceed the number of civil service employees.

    13. DivineAlmond on

      US economy and free market is literally insane

      in other countries this rate is like 10% usually, can go up to 25% in commie or regulated countries, and trump is cutting it even further

      amazing sight to behold, be proud burgerians, this is unprecedented levels of success

    14. beambot on

      Meanwhile, US Government spending as a fraction of GDP keeps going up. If it’s not direct headcount costs, then it’s indirect. That would make this direct employment chart is disengenuous — it’s like Walmart saying “we have 1,000 employees, but we have 100,000 contractors.”

    16. geek66 on

      Plot against the R and Ds perception of what percentage.

      IMO – any reasonable organization needs 5-10% overhead costs – running the county is no different.

    17. tjkoala on

      Its amazing how computers and automation have made people more efficient and in spite of that, if I want to provide documents to the IRS my options are to mail or fax a document.

      Its not surprising the percentage has dropped, most government employees not in the postal service or military are white collar workers. We should see these jobs becoming more efficient, its just not efficient enough considering the technology available. Anyone who has delt with the IRS, Social Security Administration, Medicare/Medicaid, etc. knows exactly how inefficient, slow, bureaucratic, and backwards these agencies are compared to walking into literally any other business short of health insurance.

      Disagree? Just try calling into the IRS or SSA and lmk how that goes.

    19. YouLearnedNothing on

      Holy hell 3 million people in the federal government alone?!?! I thought it was less than 2.. which is still crazy

    21. make_reddit_great on

      *Christian Bale American psycho meme*

      Very nice. Now include contractors and non-profits using federal grant money.

    22. nemom on

      A reporter asked the Hoover Dam Project Leader how many men he had working on site. He answered, “About a third of ’em.”

    23. DeadFyre on

      Meaningless. Over 10% of the Federal budget is spent on contractors, while employee salaries comprise around 7%. The actually important figure is *spending*, as a percentage of the entire U.S. economy, and relative to tax receipts.

      Here is spending relative to GDP:

      https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S.

      Here is tax receipts as a percentage of GDP:

      https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S

      So, what you’ll find is that in spite of “massive” tax cuts, the overall percentage of American GDP taken in taxes has remained reasonably steady at around 16% for the past 80 years. Meanwhile, government outlays as a percentage of GDP have climbed steadily higher, going from around 17% in the 1960’s to 23% today.

      So the money we spend keeps going up, and the money we take in taxes remains stubbornly flat.