No, the federal government is not “too big.” If anything, it’s not big enough. Here are the facts.
How big is the federal government exactly?
If we listen to critics, especially conservative pundits and fiery activists who constantly attack the size and scope of Washington’s reputed bureaucracy, we’re led to believe the federal government is a behemoth, incurably dysfunctional, and even parasitical — sucking the very life’s blood out of society.
Is this true?
Let’s examine the most reliable statistical evidence that’s available as to the true size of government, which is the total number of federal employees.
In 1960, as the final months of the Eisenhower Administration were winding down and John F. Kennedy was about to take office, there were about 1.8 million bureaucrats working within the federal system. That number doesn’t include military personnel, nor employees of the U.S. Postal System. Remember that number — 1.8 million.
Many opponents of “big government” cite this period — circa 1960 — as the golden age of America’s dominance when we were the world’s preeminent economic and military superpower. Yes, that’s an accurate assessment. The United States was unquestionably the most prosperous nation in the world at the time, by any measure.
Since 1960, much has changed. Now 57 years later, our nation’s population has increased from about 180 million to nearly 325 million. That figure represents about an 80 percent increase in population within a time span of only two generations. The federal system has also expanded significantly, just as one might expect with a booming population increase (in addition to perhaps 8-10 million more undocumented workers who also reside here).
Consider what’s happened since 1960 in terms of the actual composition of the government. No significant programs have been cut. However, many programs and new responsibilities have been added. No federal agencies were eliminated. However, many were created. Medicare became law (in 1965) which provided tens of millions of seniors with health coverage. Six new cabinet-level agencies were also formed — including Housing and Urban Development (1965) , Transportation (1966), Energy (1977), Education (1979), Veterans Affairs (1989), and Homeland Security (2003). Moreover, the EPA was created (1972). Oh, and then there are other federally-funded initiatives — including the Peace Corps, the National Endowment for the Arts, PBS, NPR, and several other agencies which might lead us to believe the size of government has mushroomed in size.
Indeed, since the Eisenhower era, the government has assumed an important role in health care, retirement planning, public housing, education, energy, workplace safety, civil rights, domestic security (consider the size of the TSA at airports), and the environment. That’s a lot of new federal workers doing stuff that the government didn’t use to do.
Given what’s seemingly been a huge increase in the size of our government, combined with a significant population increase nationwide, now here’s my question:
What would you estimate the number of federal employees to be today?
Remember, back in 1960, there were 1.8 million federal workers.
Take your time. When ready, take a guess.
The actual number may surprise you. Even the staunchest liberals might be shocked to learn the total number of federal employees is approximately….2,079,000.
For those who are bad at math, that’s about a 14 percent increase over the past 57 years.
14 percent.
Wow.
[A complete breakdown from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) can be found HERE at the government’s official website. The number of federal employees is listed by year since 1940.]
Given these startling facts, is it really fair then to keep on criticizing the so-called “big government?” The number of government employees has hardly gone up at all.
Why is this so? Well, the federal system has become far more efficient within the past six decades. Civil servants are doing far more work with fewer employees than before. Certainly, office automation and various technological advances have contributed to what’s been only modest-size increases in the number of federal workers. However, there’s even something more remarkable happening here.
What we’re seeing is this — government works quite well when it’s managed properly. The government provides us with the essential protections and services that we need, and at a relative bargain for what we’re getting. And, it’s never functioned more efficiently, as is revealed by looking at the number of workers and the broad spectrum of duties entrusted to the federal government — including everything from making sure our hamburger meat is safe enough to eat to keep planes in the sky from crashing into each other.
Now, hold on. There’s more. Here’s the real shocker.
While the number of federal employees it takes to do all the important things that the government does has remained stagnant over many decades, what’s happening within the murky macrocosm of the defense establishment is downright scandalous.
Since President Eisenhower warned us about the evils of the military and defense establishment in his farewell address in 1960, for-profit contractors have pigged-out at taxpayer expense like no other beneficiaries of government. In fact, there are as many defense-related contract employees now feeding off American taxpayers as full-time civilians who work for the Department of Defense.
Citing research performed by John J. Dilulio at the Brookings Institution, and published in his 2014 book titled, “Bring Back the Bureaucrats,” conservative political columnist George Will took on this important issue recently. He noted there are about 770,000 for-profit contractors working in defense, compared to about 800,000 federal workers doing similar work. That’s an astonishing overreach of budget and manpower appropriation, amounting to tens of billions of wasted tax dollars, especially so if the current Administration’s call for decreasing international intervention is to be believed. Other national security-related agencies too, most notably intelligence, are just as wildly out of control when it comes to federal employees, private contractors, and overall spending in light of all the belt-tightening elsewhere.
So, next time you hear the same old stage complaints about the alleged evils of “big government,” let’s remember the actual data. Look at the facts. Facts are not partisan.
We should all agree on at least one thing. Part of the federal government is way too big. Yes, indeed. Federal spending is out of control, and there are way too many workers — at least in one sector. And that sector is the bloated defense establishment.
Not to be outdone by his hawkish predecessors, in his first federal budget (for the fiscal year 2018), President Trump has just proposed $54 billion in cuts to various federal agencies.
President Trump also proposed an increase of $54 billion….for defense.
FOOTNOTE: While we’re at it, let’s also dispel the falsehood that the size of the federal government increased during the Obama Administration (2009-2016). According to the OPM’s own data, the number of federal workers during President Obama’s first full year in office was about 2,774,000. During the most recent year statistics were available (2014), the number of government employees was 2,663,000. That’s a decrease.