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 Sep 2025 about establishment survey, federal, government, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Government from Jan 1939 to Sep 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.

Graph and download economic data for Full-time equivalent employees: Federal government (A4377C0A173NBEA) from 1929 to 2023 about full-time, federal, government, employment, GDP, and USA.

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.

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.

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.

Government Payrolls in the United States increased by 22 thousand in September 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.

View monthly updates and historical trends for US Government Payrolls. from United States. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Track economic data with YC…

This graph shows the number of employees in the US National Intelligence Program for 2013, by agency. In 2013, ****** employees were working for the National Security Agency. The total workforce of the National Intelligence Program amounted to ******* employees.

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.

All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Puerto Rico was 21.90000 Thous. of Persons in March of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Puerto Rico reached a record high of 21.90000 in March of 2025 and a record low of 18.20000 in March of 2022. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Puerto Rico - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

All Employees: Government: Federal Government in California was 248.00000 Thous. of Persons in August of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, All Employees: Government: Federal Government in California reached a record high of 385.00000 in May of 1990 and a record low of 241.70000 in April of 2014. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in California - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA) (SMU11479009091000001SA) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about DC, Washington, WV, MD, VA, federal, government, employment, and USA.

United States - All Employees, Government was 23598.00000 Thous. of Persons in September of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - All Employees, Government reached a record high of 23698.00000 in June of 2025 and a record low of 3988.00000 in January of 1939. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - All Employees, Government - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, State Government (CES9092000001) from Jan 1955 to Aug 2025 about establishment survey, government, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in New York City, NY (SMU36935619091000001) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about New York, NY, federal, government, employment, and USA.