6 things to know about the federal workforce that Trump wants to cut : NPR

It was confusing for workers in the federal government for several days: I came first Federal Employment FreezeRemote work and the end of the presidential order Re -categorize the status of thousands of civil servants。 After that, the government as a whole on Tuesday came and decided whether to opt to almost all federal employees until February 6.

But how well do most Americans understand this group in the news? There are six things to know about this huge worker’s pool.

How big is the federal worker?

According to the Labor Statistics Bureau, about 2.4 million workers are hired by the federal government, excluding unified soldiers and employees of the US Postal Corporation. In contrast, Wal -Mart, the employer of the largest private sector in the United States, There are 1.6 million workers.

Where do most federal employees work?

If you guess Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, you will be wrong. A considerable concentration of federal labor is working in the Colombia Special Ward and the surrounding state (according to March 2024, about 459,000 as of March 2024), but 80 % of the federal civil employees are found at military bases. You can. Out -of -region government agencies: about 181,000 in California, 168,500 in Texas, 115,000 in Florida, and 88,000 in Georgia.

According to Don Moinihan, a professor at the Faculty of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, the impact of the reduction in federal labor is not felt in the DC area alone, but it is “scattered throughout the country.”

54 % of federal workers are 100 % on the premises. This is, according to the data from the Administration Bureau in May 2024 Federal News Network It was originally posted on the deleted White House page. The other 46 % are qualified for teleworks, most of which are on the hybrid schedule. Only 10 % of them are completely remotely working.

According to Max Stier, the president and CEO of the partnership of public services, one -third of the uniform federal workers are military veterans.

“Most people don’t understand that many military people want to continue to serve, so they don’t understand that they will be a civil servant,” he says.

Only a few organizations and divisions are employed most of the workers. And the number of them has not increased much

“Most major [federal] Moinihan says that private employees are either a veteran issue, the National Land Security, or the Defense Pentagon, “says Moinihan.

Although it may be a conventional wisdom, the relative size of federal labor has not risen in recent years. Purisato Center Report It was released this month.

“For a while number Federal workers have grown over time Share In recent years, it is generally stable in the private labor force. “

Stier added, “Despite the fact that our government is doing more,” stier.

The salary of federal workers accounts for only a small part of the government’s budget.

Moinihan says The government says, “Among the $ 6.5 trillion budget, we spend about $ 350 billion federal employees every year.”

According to Josh Bivens, Chief Economist of the Institute of Economic Policy, a non -party think tank, this represents “small sleds for the total government -about 5 % to 6 %.”

There is concern that reduction can affect important services that affect the average Americans.

This depends on the number of federal government employees and which organizations and positions are the most deviated.

But, nevertheless, “I need to manage programs -providing support for retirement, health, and income -social security, medical care, and medical,” BiVens says.

“It is necessary to submit a claim and consider it, and a problem is required. [to be] “Payment to farmers is required [to be] “Processing and managed” and “major public goods such as pandemic monitoring and response” must be performed.

He added that more difficult government responsibility, such as collecting and analyzing economic data, is also important.

Stier provides some examples of what works. The administration says that it wants a reduction of 10 %, but what happens if it is 50 % of food safety inspectors or 50 % of air control officers, or 50 % of the FBI? “

“You are talking about a considerable Arbitrary reduction, which is completely unpredictable to decide who has left and who will stay,” he says.

Cut has other drawbacks

The acquisition and incentives aimed at reducing the number of federal employees are not new. In the mid -1990s, they were in trial between Bill Clinton’s presidential position. However, the result was mixed at best, 1997 report Currently, by what is called the government’s accountability bureau.

“”[A]GAO concluded that GAO concluded, and GENCIES often gave priority to achieving a specific organizational goal, but fully allowed the acquisition.

“This contributed to various disadvantaged operations. For example, 15 institutions have experienced corporate memories and expertise loss, and 11 institutions have worked due to the separation of major personnel. The report stated that there was a backlog. “

As a result, according to MOYNIHAN, these institutions have lost their important skills, have higher costs, higher costs for taxpayers, more external consultants (stopped. I have hired a part of the same federal workers. The employment market in the private sector has first left. ”

“You know, you can make more in the private sector than made by the government, and stay in this new environment is not a hassle,” he said. Masu.