Government Employment

Post by **TheCatt** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:04 pm

Let's do another "don't look it up" poll.

What percent of the workforce do you think works for the federal government? Civilian jobs only (no military)

No cheating, Malcolm.

And, bonus question. Is it more or less than at each of the following decades? (answer per decade): 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000.

Edited: to clarify for federal only.

Edited By TheCatt on 1415457062

Post by **GORDON** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:13 pm

All levels of government? I would guess.... 15-20%, and we've got to have more now than ever before.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:56 pm

I'll go 1 of every 10 people.

50s: way more than this, gov't wasn't big enough
60s: way more than this, still not big enough
70s: getting closer, lots of new workers needed for idealistic hippie initiatives
80s: getting closer still, due to massive military buildup
90s: somewhere close to now, because we still had cash and no commies to outspend
00s: more workers then than now, because we had seven million bloated "wars" on various abstract concepts and common sense in general AND the cash to fuel them

I presume the economic situation in the past ten years has necessitated a bit of shrinkage.

Post by **TheCatt** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:05 pm

Ack. I should have clarified: FEDERAL government only.

Post by **GORDON** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 10:53 pm

TheCatt wrote:Ack. I should have clarified: FEDERAL government only.

Including postal employees? I say 10%.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:05 am

GORDON wrote:
TheCatt wrote:Ack. I should have clarified: FEDERAL government only.
Including postal employees? I say 10%.

From what I can tell, yes, USPS employees count as federal employees.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:49 am

What about military? (I'd say yes, active duty only, no reserves or guard)

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:30 am

thibodeaux wrote:What about military? (I'd say yes, active duty only, no reserves or guard)

Civilian only.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:10 am

TheCatt wrote:
GORDON wrote:
TheCatt wrote:Ack. I should have clarified: FEDERAL government only.
Including postal employees? I say 10%.
From what I can tell, yes, USPS employees count as federal employees.

There are those who argue that USPS workers don't count, because their budget is somehow not tied to the federal budget (and that is why you can't use the USPS as an example of how the government can bring in record amounts of tax money but can't keep post offices open).

I don't make those arguments, but some do.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:13 am

At any rate... I think I would have guessed 5-10%, and probably higher than any decade except the 90s and 2000s.

Lowest since 1962 in absolute terms.

Lowest since WWII in % terms, around 2% of workers.

Local and state government, however, growing massively:

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:25 am

So, more people overall, but fewer as a percentage of total population?

And why don't military count? Their checks come from the treasury.

Edited By GORDON on 1415460370

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:55 am

GORDON wrote:So, more people overall, but fewer as a percentage of total population?

And why don't military count? Their checks come from the treasury.

Fewest people overall since 1962.

Cuz those aren't the #s aren't included in what the WSJ was counting.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:48 am

What the hell were all these federal employees doing in 1962? There was no department of education, NSA, homeland security, etc.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:52 am

GORDON wrote:What the hell were all these federal employees doing in 1962? There was no department of education, NSA, homeland security, etc.

Maybe things like the IRS that have been computerized?

Also, this count does not include federal contractors. So the #s may be misleading.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:01 pm

Hmmm.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 3:27 pm

TheCatt wrote:Also, this count does not include federal contractors. So the #s may be misleading.

My first guess is shenanigans with counting. Like, the janitor in the federal building in 1962 was probably a federal employee, but now he's an employee of a contractor.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 3:58 pm

Here's an estimate around 11 million.

When he added up all the numbers, he found that the true size of the federal government was about 11 million: 1.8 million civil servants, 870,000 postal workers, 1.4 million military personnel, 4.4 million contractors, and 2.5 million grantees

Including active duty military.

Post by **Vince** » Sun Nov 09, 2014 4:49 pm

Part of the rise in local government jobs is in part due to federal regulations from my understanding. Some the feds help pay for, but they're still federally created jobs, even if they're being shouldered by the local government.