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FEDERAL CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT
 
 
December 1987
 
 
NOTES

Unless otherwise indicated, all years referred to in this report are fiscal years.

Details in the text and tables of this report may not add to totals because of rounding.

Cover photographs provided by the Office of Personnel Management.
 
 
PREFACE

Federal workers account for about 3 percent of civilian employment in the United States. This special study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines the characteristics of the federal work force and the changes it has experienced during the past decade. The report was prepared at the request of the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.

R. Mark Musell of CBO's Office of Intergovernmental Relations prepared this paper under the supervision of Stanley L. Greigg and Earl Armbrust. David Horowitz and Drew Larson assisted with data collection and analysis. The author gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of Jim Hall and May Eng of the Office of Personnel Management. Sherry Snyder edited the report, with the assistance of Nancy H. Brooks. Mary V. Braxton and Kathryn Quattrone prepared the report for publication.
 

Edward M. Gramlich
Acting Director
December 1987
 
 

CONTENTS
 

SUMMARY

I - INTRODUCTION

II - TRENDS IN THE FEDERAL CIVILIAN WORK FORCE

III - WHAT WORKERS DO AND HOW WELL THEY DO IT

APPENDIX
 
TABLES
 
S-1.  Federal Civilian Employment, U.S. Civilian Population, and U.S. Civilian Employment, 1977-1987
S-2.  Educational Attainment and Occupational Distribution of Federal Civilian Nonpostal Full-Time Permanent Workers, March 1976 and March 1986
1.  Federal Civilian Employment, 1987
2.  Federal Civilian Nonpostal Full-Time Permanent Work Force by Occupational Category, March 1986
3.  Distribution of the Federal Civilian Nonpostal Full-Time Permanent Work Force by Educational Attainment and Occupational Category, March 1986
4.  Federal Civilian Employment by Branch and Agency, 1977-1987
5.  Federal Civilian Nonpostal Full-Time Permanent Work Force by Occupational Group, March 1976 and March 1986
6.  Federal Civilian Nonpostal Full-Time Permanent Work Force With a Bachelor's Degree or Better, March 1976 and March 1986
7.  Average Annual Productivity Changes Since 1977, by Federal Agency
A-1.  Growth of the Federal Civilian Work Force by Branch and Agency, 1977-1987
 
FIGURES
 
S-1.  Changes in Federal Civilian Employment by Agency, 1977-1987
1.  Growth of Federal Civilian Employment, 1977-1987
2.  Distribution of the Federal Civilian Work Force by Activity, 1986
 
BOXES
 
1.  Measuring the Size of the Federal Work Force
2.  Measuring Productivity in the Federal Government


 

SUMMARY

About 3 percent of all civilian employees in the United States work for the federal government--over 3 million in all. The federal civil service is diverse and complex. Its members represent more than 900 different occupations, over 100 different agencies direct their efforts, and roughly three dozen pay systems govern their wages and salaries. Despite its size and diversity, however, the federal civilian work force exhibits several dominant, defining characteristics. Three agencies, for example, account for more than two-thirds of all federal workers: the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and the Veterans Administration (VA). The evolution of the federal work force over the past decade, moreover, has been marked by definite trends, and these trends often stand in clear contradiction to popular views about the civil service.

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