Government employment has declined by 1 million

[Toro]

The peak of government employment was in May 2010 when 22,980,000 were employed by the government. In the most recent reading, 21,962,000 people were employed by the government. Excluding the temporary effects of census, the peak for government employment was in April 2009, with 22,681,000 million government employees. Since then, there are 719,000 fewer government employees. Non-seasonally adjusted, there 2,630,000 fewer people employed by the government compared to May 2010, a decline of 11.2%. Since January 2001, total government employment has increased by 5.4%, or 0.5% per year.

For the federal government, excluding the temporary workers hired for the census last year, federal employment peaked in April 2010 at 2,985,000. Today, there are 2,822,000 federal government employees, a decline of 163,000. Since 2000, total federal government employment has grown by 0.2% per year.

The peak in state employment was in August of 2008 when there were 5,209,000 employed in state government. Today, there are 5,079,000 state government employees, a decline of 130,000. Local government peaked in September 2008, when there were 14,611,000 employed. Today, there are 14,061,000 local government employees, a decline of 550,000. If you take the average state and local government employment for August and September 2008, state and local government employees have since declined by 670,000. Interestingly, if you exclude education, state and local government has declined by about 270,000. Education accounts for roughly half of all state and local government employment so education has shed roughly 400,000 jobs. Since 2000, total state and local government employment has grown by 0.5% per year. Interestingly, most of the growth in government employment since 2000 has come from local governments outside of education, growing at 1.0% per year. State government employment excluding education has actually declined from 2.75 million in January 2001 to 2.71 million in August 2011, or -0.1% per year.

Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail [In thousands]

 

[Avorysuds]

Still too much.

 

[Oddball]

As compared to job losses in the private sector?

Not nearly enough of that "shared sacrifice" thingy.

 

[Trajan]

As compared to job losses in the private sector?

Not nearly enough of that "shared sacrifice" thingy.

word.......we have spent ahead of pop. growth and inflation, we have become accustomed to this top heavy structure and now naturally, at the worse time, the hammer falls.

and as you allude OB, personally I have little sympathy to share, I am sorry anyone has to lose their job in this environment, but, in the end they never should have been hired to start with, my private sector employer of 15 years handed me my walking papers April 2009,*shrugs*, it is what it is.