For the last 30 years, the Public Service Roundtable has sponsored Public Service Recognition Week as a way for citizens to learn more about the work of public servants and to create opportunities to honor the work of the federal, state, and local government employees. The Roundtable is made up of nearly two dozen public sector unions and associations representing current and retired government workers. To learn how you can help honor public service, visit the Public Service Recognition Week homepage.

Part of the Roundtable’s efforts involves gathering stories about the importance of public service to the American people. If you have a story about a public service or public servant who makes your life better, or if you are a public servant yourself and would like others to know why serving the public is important to you, we’d love to hear from you. Send us your stories at stories@foreffectivegov.org. We’ll compile the best stories and share them in upcoming blog posts.

In honor of Public Service Recognition Week, we offer the following portrait of public service in America.

1) Lots of Americans give of themselves to serve the public. Nearly 22 million Americans—almost 15 percent of the nation’s workforce—serve as public servants for federal, state, and local governments.

• 4,185,000 work for the federal government (2,663,000 work in the executive branch, 1,459,000 in the uniformed military service, and 63,000 in federal courts and Congress.)
• 5,075,000 work for state government
• 14,096,000 work for local government

Sources: Office of Personnel Management, Governing.com

2) The vast majority of the work of the federal government is done far from Washington D.C. Just 11 percent of federal workers work in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. California and Texas both have more federal employees than Washington D.C.

Federal Government Workers and Retirees are Your Neighbors

Source: EyeonWashington.com, Office of Personnel Management

3) Government at all levels has been cut. Government workers are being asked to do more with fewer resources. Federal, state, and local governments have all sharply cut public sector jobs in recent years. More than 1.3 million public service jobs have been cut since the Great Recession.

• Since peaking at 3,416,000 in May 2010, federal government employment has fallen 20.2 percent to 2,727,000.
• Since peaking at 5,214,000 in June 2008, state government employment has fallen 2.7 percent to 5,075,000.
• Since peaking at 14,595,000 in October 2008, local government employment has fallen 3.4 percent to 14,096,000.

Source: Governing.com

4) The federal government has shrunk considerably relative to the growth in population. Over the last 50 years, the number of federal employees (excluding uniformed military) has grown just 7.8 percent, while the population those employees serve has expanded by two-thirds. In 1960, there was one federal employee (including military) for every 31 citizens; today, each federal worker serves 76 citizens.

5) While the federal workforce has remained static, the size of the federal contractor workforce has soared in recent years. There are now an estimated 7.5 million private sector contractors, often doing the work formerly done by government employees.

• The federal government spends $500 billion on contracts for public services with for-profit firms.
• In 2010, the federal government spent 40 percent more paying private contractors to deliver public services than it paid its own workforce. Private contractors are paid more than a government employee doing similar work.  
• “A 2011 report by the National Academy of Public Administration and the Kettering Foundation concluded that programs operated by civil servants receive ‘significantly higher’ scores for management and effectiveness than those run by ‘grant- and contract-based third parties,’” John Dilulio, Jr. wrote in The Washington Post.
• Federal government employees are spending more of their time supervising contract employees, rather than delivering strong public services directly, according to Dilulio, former director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush and author of the book, Bring Back the Bureaucrats.
• Hiring a million more federal employees to bring the number of federal workers per employee back in line with historic levels, and phasing out overpriced contracts for privatized government services, would deliver a more accountable and effective government, according to Dilulio.

Doing so is one of the most important ways we should honor public service and create opportunities for a new generation of public employees to serve their country.