The Federal Workforce in Numbers

Whether you work in government or not, you probably have the impression that the federal workforce is expansive and complex. You’re not wrong. But do you know just how many people and dollars it takes to keep the nation running?

Below are 25 facts and figures to give you a quantitative grasp on the size and scale of the federal workforce:

The Basics

• 2,711,000 people comprise the federal workforce, excluding non-civilian military, according to the October 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job report Tweet this

• 2,067,262 people worked in the federal executive branch alone in fiscal year 2013, according to OPM Tweet this

• ~350 different federal occupations have been identified by the BLS Tweet this

• 336,000 millennials comprise 16% of the federal workforce, according to OPM Tweet this

• 28.6% of federal jobs are currently filled by veterans, according to OPM Tweet this

• 2.8% of federal employees identified themselves as LGBT in 2014, up from 2.2% in 2012, according to the OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Tweet this

• 37% of federal hires were women in 2012, which is 6 percentage points lower than the female hire rate in 2000, according to a September 2014 report from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Tweet this

• 68% of the federal workforce had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2014, according to OPM Tweet this

Getting to Now

• 48 years ago, the federal government employed the same number of people as it does today, according to the BLS Tweet this

• 258,882 employees were added to the federal non-postal civilian workforce between 2004 and 2012, resulting in a 14% increase in total employees, according to a 2014 General Accountability Office (GAO) report Tweet this

• 3 agencies –the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs–accounted for 94% of the increase during that time Tweet this

• 80,000 jobs were cut from federal employment in 2013, however, according to the BLS Tweet this

• 22% of U.S. Postal Service jobs were cut between 2006 and 2013, according to the GAO Tweet this

The Day-to-Day

• 86% of millennials in the federal government believe the work they do is important, according to the OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Tweet this

• 29% of federal employees teleworked to some extent in 2014, according to the OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Tweet this

• 1% fewer federal employees reported that they were satisfied with their in 2014, dropping from 65% in 2013 Tweet this

• 17 departments or large agencies, however,  reported an increase in global employee satisfaction in 2014 compared to previous years, according to OPM Tweet this

• 77% of NASA employees reported positive engagement in a 2014 OPM survey, making it the agency with the highest engagement across the large federal department and agencies Tweet this

• 89% of employees at the U.S. Trade and Development agency also reported high engagement in the same survey, making it the most engaged small or independent agency in federal government Tweet this

• $116,828 in total government-wide compensation was spent for each full-time equivalent position in the federal government in 2012, according to GAO Tweet this

Tomorrow’s Government

• 31% of federal workers will be eligible for retirement by September 2017, according to the Government Accountability Office Tweet this

• 300,000 jobs will be cut from the federal workforce between now and 2022, based on projections by the BLS Tweet this

• 1% increase in pay is expected for federal employees in 2015, unless Congress passes legislation to counteract President Obama’s promise Tweet this

• 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be given to all federal retirees in 2015 Tweet this

• 3.88% will be the increase in health care premiums for Feds in 2015, announced the OPM Tweet this

Wonder what federal employees do all day? Well, they do a myriad of things. A growing job function–in fact the role most quickly expanding–in government is that of IT and cybersecurity. Check out our recent post of 23 Cybersecurity Facts and Figures for more stats on government operations.