The Percentage Of Workers In Government Is At A 54-Year Low

One of the things measured in the jobs report is the number of government workers. As has happened each month in 2014, there was a small uptick in government employment during December, with government adding about 12,000 jobs.

After a sharp drop following the Great Recession, the number of government employees bottomed out in 2013 and has been on a very slow upward trend since.

However, looking at government employees as a percentage of all employees shows a somewhat different picture.

Government employment since the 70s has grown at a slower rate than employment overall, causing the proportion of government employees among total employees to remain on a mostly downward trend over the last thirty years.

As of December, about 15.6% of all employees worked for the government.

The last time the percentage was lower than it is currently was in August 1960 (via Eddy Elfenbein).