According to the BLS in Industry at a Glance, the government sector employed approximately 21,575,000 people in 2003, representing about 16.2% of all U.S. employment. BLS data in Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages indicated that the federal government made up 2.2% of national employment, state governments comprised 3.5%, and local government entities and publicly funded organizations employed 10.5%. The unemployment rate for workers in the public sector was 2.8%, significantly lower than the 6% national average for 2003, and the lowest of any sector. Of the 1.9 million civilian employees of the federal government in 2002, approximately 3% worked outside the United States in diplomatic and military installations.
Federal Government
In Career Guide to Industries: 2004–05 Edition, the BLS reported that in 2002, 60% of civilian federal employees worked in managerial, business, financial, or professional positions, a rate double that of the American workforce overall. In 2002 the legislative branch employed 1% of federal government workers, including members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, their aides, and clerical employees. The judicial branch, including the Supreme Court, as well as Courts of Appeal and District Courts, employed another 1% of federal employees. Ninety-eight percent of federal government workers were employed in the more than one hundred agencies and departments of the executive branch. Fifteen departments in the executive branch are headed by Cabinet-level secretaries who report directly to the president. These departments are:
COMMERCE. With 39,000 workers and a $9.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2006, the Commerce Department includes the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Industry and Security, the International Trade Administration, the Minority Business Development Agency, the National Ocean & Atmospheric Agency, the National Technical Information Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and the Technology Administration.
DEFENSE. In addition to more than 2.5 million active and reserve military personnel, the Defense Department included 700,000 civilian employees in its $401.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2005. It is the largest of the Cabinet-level departments of the U.S. government. Civilian employees in the Defense Department perform professional, medical, technical, clerical, and support activities for the military.
EDUCATION. The Department of Education plans to employ 4,500 workers under a budget of $69.4 billion during fiscal year 2006. Through such programs and initiatives as Federal Student Aid and the No Child Left Behind Act, the department distributes financial aid, supports innovation and improvement in education, and works to ensure equal access to education in the United States.
ENERGY. The 100,000 federal and contractor employees in the Energy Department operated under a $23.4 billion budget during fiscal year 2006. Branches of the department include the Energy Information Administration, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the National Laboratories & Technology Centers, and Power Marketing Administrations.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. Comprising the Administration for Children and Families, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service, and the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services included 67,284 employees in its $66 billion budget for fiscal year 2006.
HOMELAND SECURITY. The Department of Homeland Security employed a workforce of 181,672, including 47,112 members of the Coast Guard, in 2005. Its budget for fiscal year 2006 was $41.1 billion, and, in addition to the Coast Guard, the department includes such agencies and administrations as Citizenship & Immigration Services, Customs & Border Protection, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration.
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT. With 9,000 employees and a $30.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2006, the Department of Housing and Urban Development promotes and facilitates home ownership through initiatives focused on community planning, fair housing, equal opportunity, and public housing. It also supports the mortgage industry through the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).
INTERIOR. Created by Congress in 1849, the Department of the Interior maintained a workforce of 70,600 employees under a $15 billion budget during fiscal year 2006. Operations of the department are conducted through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Office of Surface Mining.
JUSTICE. With 103,158 employees (actual, September 2004) and a fiscal year 2005 budget of $22.2 billion, the Department of Justice includes the Attorney General's office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
LABOR. The Department of Labor plans to house 16,945 employees under a $54.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2006. Its operating entities include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Employment & Training Administration, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
STATE. The State Department will operate with a $9.3 billion budget during fiscal year 2006, but it was part of more than $33.6 billion budgeted for international affairs, including foreign aid, famine relief, and counter-narcotics funding. The State department workforce included 9,000 Foreign Service personnel in 170 countries during 2005.
TRANSPORTATION. With 58,610 employees and a $58.8 billion budget during fiscal year 2005, the Transportation Department includes the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Maritime Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
TREASURY. The Treasury Department, which includes the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Mint, will operate with 103,000 employees and an $11.6 billion budget during fiscal year 2006.
VETERANS AFFAIRS. The Veterans Affairs Department is the second largest of the fifteen Cabinet-level departments in the U.S. government and includes 120 national cemeteries maintained by the National Cemetery Administration, 158 medical centers comprising the Veterans Health Administration, and fifty-eight regional offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration. Its budget for fiscal year 2006 was $70.8 billion, and it employed 230,000 people in 2005.
State Governments
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated in State Government Employment and Payroll: March 2003 that 5,042,800 people were employed either full-time or part-time by state governments in March 2003. The largest numbers were employed in higher education, corrections, and hospitals.
Local Governments
According to Compendium of Public Employment: 2002 (U.S. Census Bureau, September 2004), there were about 87,500 local governments in the United States in 2002. Of these, approximately 36,000 government entities were below the county level. These were mainly cities, towns, townships, municipal corporations, and other local governing districts. About 13,500 school districts in the United States also counted as independent units of government, according to the study, meaning that they were directly funded by tax revenue and not operating as dependent agencies of the local government.
Public schools covering prekindergarten through high school enrolled an estimated forty-eight million students in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics in Condition of Education 2004. When college students were included, enrollment in public education in the United States topped 70.7 million in fall 2003. About nine million people were employed in public schools, colleges, and universities in 2003, including 4.2 million teachers and faculty and 4.8 million professional, administrative, and support staff.
In May 2004 the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics released Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2001, a study by Lynn Bauer and Steven D. Owens. In the report, Bauer and Owens estimate that "seven cents of every dollar spent by state and local governments in 2001 was for justice activities." This included three cents for police protection, nearly three cents for corrections, and two cents for judicial and legal services. Total justice system spending in 2001 by state governments amounted to $63.4 billion; local governments spent $83.4 billion. The BLS estimated in Occupational Outlook Handbook: 2004–05 Edition that 840,000 law enforcement officers and detectives were employed by all governmental levels in 2002. Local governments employed approximately 81% of police officers in the United States.
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