30% of the federal workforce is made up of veterans. Only 5% of the general workforce is made up of veterans. So the federal government is an important sector for those who have served our country. The largest agency in the government is Veterans Affairs, which makes up 21.3% of the federal workforce. 70.3% of the workforce is in national security related industries. The largest occupation is in the medical field, which boasts 15.5% of the federal workforce.
80% of the federal workforce is located outside the Washington D.C. area. There are more federal workers in California than in Maryland, which borders the nation's capital.
The federal workforce has a higher percentage of "people of color" than does the workforce at large (40% to 24%), but those jobs are more likely to be lower level on the GS scale. By the time you're at the GS 15 level or the SES level, the workforce represents the employed population at large.
Federal workers make up a tiny percentage of the population. Since 2010, they have made up between 0.57% and 0.61% of the population. Almost 50% of hires are at the entry level with a quarter unclassifiable.
While this administration has been trying to handcuff much of the federal workforce, there is one area that they could've made more efficient, if the people in charge knew what they were doing. The average hiring process takes three times longer in the public sector than in the private sector.
When we talk about the federal government being bloated, we can see that critique really refers to the defense sector. The talk of "DEI" ruining the federal government is completely fabricated as higher levels of government, the decision makers, represent the same demographics as the workforce at large. The notion that DC is a swamp of bureaucrats also doesn't check out as 4/5th of the federal workforce don't work in the area.
This country has its share of problems, but the federal workforce isn't one of them.
