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, Federal (CES9091000001) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, federal, government, employment, and USA.

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

Graph and download economic data for Full-time equivalent employees: Federal general government: Civilian (B4379C0A173NBEA) from 1929 to 2023 about full-time, civilian, federal, government, employment, GDP, and USA.

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 OPM Federal Workforce Competency Initiative Phase I was a survey conducted to gather data on a core set of tasks and competencies important to performing white collar jobs in the Federal Government. The dataset includes ratings of tasks and competencies collected from Federal employees and supervisors. OPM Employee Services has a pending release to make a portion of the results from the survey public.

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 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.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Federal, Except U.S. Postal Service (CES9091100001) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, federal, government, services, employment, and USA.

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.

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.

In 2024, medical, hospital, dental, and public health was the occupational group with the highest federal workforce, with over ******* employees. In comparison, there were over ******* federal employees working in the investigative occupations.

In 2024, the Department of Veteran Affairs had the largest workforce of any executive department or major government agency, with over ******* employees. The Department of Homeland Security was the second-largest federal employer, with over ******* employees in 2024.

Federal Employee Count - Historical chart and current data through 2025.

This dataset contains annual average CES data for California statewide and areas from 1990 to 2023. The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly surveys are conducted to provide estimates of employment, hours, and earnings based on payroll records of business establishments. The CES survey is based on approximately 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 629,000 individual worksites throughout the United States. CES data reflect the number of nonfarm, payroll jobs. It includes the total number of persons on establishment payrolls, employed full- or part-time, who received pay (whether they worked or not) for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any employees who are on paid sick leave or on paid holiday. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. CES data excludes proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and household workers. Government employment covers only civilian employees; it excludes uniformed members of the armed services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly surveys are conducted to provide estimates of employment, hours, and earnings based on payroll records of business establishments. The CES survey is based on approximately 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 629,000 individual worksites throughout the United States. CES data reflect the number of nonfarm, payroll jobs. It includes the total number of persons on establishment payrolls, employed full- or part-time, who received pay (whether they worked or not) for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any employees who are on paid sick leave or on paid holiday. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. CES data excludes proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and household workers. Government employment covers only civilian employees; it excludes uniformed members of the armed services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA) (SMU11479009091000001) from Jan 1990 to Jul 2025 about DC, Washington, WV, MD, VA, federal, government, employment, and USA.

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.