Will the federal government job bubble pop as spectacularly as the state job bubble did?

[cw30000]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

If you're talking about total federal employment, you're off by 40 years.

Counting all executive, legislative, and judicial branch employees, all Postal Office employees, and all U.S. military, 1968 was the year ... by a considerable margin over the total number of federal employees today.

Total Government Employment Since 1962

If you just count just the 3 branches, then yes. But what about all the new agencies created after 1962? Those are not federal employees?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by cw30000

If you just count just the 3 branches, then yes. But what about all the new agencies created after 1962? Those are not federal employees?

It includes all federal employess but these:

Excludes 7,411 project employees in 1963 and 406 project employees in 1964 for the public works acceleration program

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by cw30000

If you just count just the 3 branches, then yes. But what about all the new agencies created after 1962? Those are not federal employees?

Look at the chart I linked to. The numbers include virtually all federal employees in all federal agencies that existed at the time. The number of agencies has gone up over the years, the population of the country has gone up over the years, and the total federal workforce today is significantly smaller than it was in 1968.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

Look at the chart I linked to. The numbers include virtually all federal employees in all federal agencies that existed at the time. The number of agencies has gone up over the years, the population of the country has gone up over the years, and the total federal workforce today is significantly smaller than it was in 1968.

I'm waiting for the punch-line.

What, they should hire even more federal employees since the "total federal workforce today is significantly smaller than it was in 1968."

So the workforce is smaller today, but how much do federal employees cost in comparison to 1968?

[subsound]

Would you really want a sudden increase in people looking for jobs and cutting spending while drawing unemployment insurance?

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by Mircea

I'm waiting for the punch-line.

What, they should hire even more federal employees since the "total federal workforce today is significantly smaller than it was in 1968."

So the workforce is smaller today, but how much do federal employees cost in comparison to 1968?

To refresh your memory, the OP said nothing about hiring more federal employees, or how much more federal employees earn today compared to 43 years ago. Here's what was asked:

With imminent budget cuts coming, even with the debt ceiling raised, will Americans look back to 2008 as the year we peaked in government jobs, just as 2004-2005 was the period the real estate bubble peaked?

My posts were in response to that question; i.e., on topic.