In 2023, around 19.58 million people were working for state and local governments in the United States. This is much higher than the number of federal government (civilian) employees, which stood at about 2.87 million people in that year.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Government (USGOVT) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, government, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Federal (CES9091000001) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, federal, government, employment, and USA.

In 2023, about ** million people were full-time employees of state and local governments in the United States. In the same year, about four million people were part-time employees of state and local governments.

As of March 2023, there were about 7.8 million government employees working in elementary and secondary education in the United States. Additionally, approximately 527,064 people were employed in public welfare services in that year.

This statistic shows the number of people employed full-time by state and local governments in the United States in 2023, by job function. The elementary and secondary education sector was the area with the highest number of state and local government employees in 2023 with over *********** full-time employees.

The total payroll costs for state government employees who worked in higher education in the United States amounted to around 12.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. For state government employees who worked in hospitals, the total payroll costs amounted to 3.05 billion U.S. dollars.

As of March 2023, a total of 174,531 people were employed by local governments in the United States to work in libraries. The largest function of employment by number of employees was primary and secondary education, with more than 7.7 million local government employees.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Government (CEU9000000001) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, government, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Local Government (CEU9093000001) from Jan 1955 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, government, employment, and USA.

As of October 2024, there were 133.89 million full-time employees in the United States. This is a slight decrease from the previous month, when there were 134.15 million full-time employees. The impact COVID-19 on employment In December 2019, the COVID-19 virus began its spread across the globe. Since being classified as a pandemic, the virus caused a global health crisis that has taken the lives of millions of people worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic changed many facets of society, most significantly, the economy. In the first years, many businesses across all industries were forced to shut down, with large numbers of employees being laid off. The economy continued its recovery in 2022 with the nationwide unemployment rate returning to a more normal 3.4 percent as of April 2023. Unemployment benefits Because so many people in the United States lost their jobs, record numbers of individuals applied for unemployment insurance for the first time. As an early response to this nation-wide upheaval, the government issued relief checks and extended the benefits paid by unemployment insurance. In May 2020, the amount of unemployment insurance benefits paid rose to 23.73 billion U.S. dollars. As of December 2022, this value had declined to 2.24 billion U.S. dollars.

The total payroll costs for local government employees who worked in higher education in the United States amounted to around 2.02 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Local government payroll costs for police protection amounted to about 6.32 billion U.S. dollars in that same year.

In Norway, over ** percent of the population was employed in the government sector as of 2019. In general, Nordic countries employed the largest share of the working force in their governments. On the other hand, the employment in the Japanese government constituted **** percent of the total working population in 2019.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, U.S. Postal Service (CEU9091912001) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, government, services, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Total Private (USPRIV) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about headline figure, establishment survey, private industries, private, employment, industry, and USA.

United States - Full-time equivalent employees: Federal general government was 3753.00000 Thous. in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Full-time equivalent employees: Federal general government reached a record high of 13885.00000 in January of 1944 and a record low of 548.00000 in January of 1929. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Full-time equivalent employees: Federal general government - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government: Civilian was 2354.00000 Thous. in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government: Civilian reached a record high of 2520.00000 in January of 1944 and a record low of 267.00000 in January of 1929. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government: Civilian - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

Government Payrolls in the United States decreased by 16 thousand in August of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Government Payrolls - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government was 4440.00000 Thous. in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government reached a record high of 13885.00000 in January of 1944 and a record low of 644.00000 in January of 1929. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Full-time and part-time employees: Federal general government - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

In 2021, the United States Department of Justice was the largest federal employer of full-time law enforcement employees in the United States, with ****** officers and ****** civilians employed in that year.