This week marked the inauguration of a series of strategies by different federal departments to continue the trend of downsizing their personnel. A considerable number of federal workers have already been part of workforce reduction programs, either through acquiescing to severance packages or through compulsory terminations or layoffs.
Utilizing recently accessible information from payroll archives, an estimation of the federal government’s approximate 2.3 million civilian workforce was obtained as of March 2024. These statistics pre-date the subsequent employment downsizing. The data evidence a widespread geographical dispersion of federal employees, not only within states but also within far-flung rural zones, towns, and cities across the entire nation, extending the scope beyond Washington, D.C.
As of March from the preceding year, the Department of Veteran Affairs, the biggest federal workforce delegating non-military tasks outside the Defense Department, listed over 480,000 staff members in its employment roll. Their wide-spanning roles range from medical services, with numerous doctors and nurses, serving in the agency’s network of health centers, to administrative and support roles in securing a diversity of benefits for veterans.
Numerous employees attached to the Internal Revenue Service hold positions as tax appraisers or customer service agents. They operate out of regional offices throughout the nation, with key hubs located within the confines of Memphis, Austin, Texas; and Ogden, Utah.
The Smithsonian Institution boasts of diverse staff roles including conservators of museums, animal carers, archivists, and security personnel dispersed across its spectrum of museums and research facilities.
In March of the previous year, the Department of Health and Human Services boasted a staff strength exceeding 90,000 employees. This department comprises a cross-functional team of scientists, public health regulators, investigators, and food and drug auditors addressing a wide scale of health-related issues.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service under the Agriculture Department provides nationwide support to the agriculture sector through their soil conservation specialists. Also within the Agriculture Department is the Forest Service, which is responsible for the administration of nearly 193 million acres of public land. This is done through the services of wildlife biologists, wildland firefighters, and archaeologists who are stationed mainly in the country’s rural zones.
As of March from the previous year, the Social Security Administration had more than 59,000 employees. These professionals perform a crucial service in ensuring the smooth operation of the nation’s social safety nets.
The Commerce Department is a conglomerate of unique bureaus that undertake tasks such as data collection, research, and weather prediction, these activities span the broad expanse of the nation. It includes the U.S. Census Bureau headquartered in Suitland, MD, and has a significant workforce in Jeffersonville, IN, the location of its primary mail and surveys processing center.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s engineering, physics, and chemistry teams predominantly operate out of bases in Gaithersburg, MD, and Boulder, CO.
The Interior Department commands a labor force responsible for national parks, cooperation with Native American tribes, management of the agency’s abundant land, and carrying out research. The department supervises in excess of 400 million acres of federal land, predominantly via registries like the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Employees range from scientists to park rangers, all working to safeguard these crucial resources.
NASA’s distinct workforce includes engineers, astrophysicists, and planetary scientists, operating in various significant centers across the country. Locations include the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. As of March of the prior year, the agency listed more than 18,000 employees.
With more than 222,000 employees during March of the past year, the Department of Homeland Security finds itself amongst the largest federal employers.
The Department of Energy, home to chemical engineers, nuclear experts, and computational scientists, is deployed across various field offices and laboratories nationwide like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. Specialized entities within this department include groups such as the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Energy Information Administration.
The Department of Transportation comprises a conglomerate of agencies responsible for setting regulations for the aviation sector, railroads, highways, and public transit. The Federal Aviation Administration, the largest agency within Transportation Department, with over 45,000 employees from the previous year, is represented at almost every airport in the U.S.
The Securities and Exchange Commission boasts a strong presence in major urban areas harboring significant financial services sectors, such as New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. The agency is staffed by lawyers, accountants, and compliance experts who regulate the securities industry.