Chart showing presidents and the size of the federal bureaucracy during their terms
updated February 7, 2011
(c) 2011, Brenda Grantland, Esq.
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The spreadsheets below were compiled to accompany my blog "Do Republican presidents really believe in small government?"
The data in the following charts was obtained from the
Historical Federal Workforce Tables (since 1962) compiled by the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, which can be found at http://www.opm.gov/feddata/HistoricalTables/TotalGovernmentSince1962.asp.
I added the column on the left showing the presidents and their terms
of office, and the column on the right showing the totals not counting
military personnel. I got the terms of office of each of the
presidents from a table on the Filibuster cartoons website (http://www.filibustercartoons.com/prezidents.htm) because the chart was color coded by "red" and "blue" presidents.
Because the statistics in the OPM
chart are computed as of December 31 of each year, and presidents take
office on January 20 of the
year after their election, I used the figure from the year before their
inauguration because it is the closest figure available. With
only 21
days between December 31 and inauguration day, these figures fairly
accurately depict the size of the federal bureaucracy at the start and
end of each president's term. Also note that the numbers from the
OPM
table are in thousands, so you have to add three zeros to get the
actual size of the bureaucracy at any given time. For example,
the
non-military workforce at the beginning of Jimmy Carter's term was
2.883 million employees, not 2,883. The years marked with
an asterisk were years in which temporary federal employees were hired
to conduct the census.
Chart showing presidents and the size of the federal bureaucracy during their terms
(numbers in thousands)
President
& term of office
|
Year |
Executive branch civilians (thousands) |
Uniformed military personnel (thousands) |
Legislative and judicial branch personnel (thousands) |
Total Federal personnel (thousands) | Total without military
|
|
1976 |
2,833 |
2,119 |
50 |
5,002 | 2,883
|
Jimmy Carter
1-20-1977 to1-20-1981
|
1977 |
2,840 |
2,112 |
53 |
5,005 |
|
|
1978 |
2,875 |
2,099 |
55 |
5,028 |
|
|
1979 |
2,823 |
2,063 |
53 |
4,939 |
|
|
1980 * |
2,821 |
2,090 |
55 |
4,965 | 2,875
|
Ronald Reagan
1-20-1981 to
1-20-1989
|
1981 * |
2,806 |
2,122 |
54 |
4,982 |
|
|
1982 |
2,770 |
2,147 |
55 |
4,972 |
|
|
1983 |
2,820 |
2,163 |
56 |
5,039 |
|
|
1984 |
2,854 |
2,178 |
56 |
5,088 |
|
|
1985 |
3,008 |
2,190 |
58 |
5,256 |
|
|
1986 |
2,966 |
2,206 |
55 |
5,228 |
|
|
1987 |
3,030 |
2,213 |
58 |
5,301 |
|
|
1988 |
3,054 |
2,176 |
59 |
5,289 | 3,113
|
George H.W. Bush
1-20-1989 to 1-20-1993
|
1989 |
3,064 |
2,168 |
60 |
5,292 |
|
|
1990 * |
3,067 |
2,106 |
61 |
5,234 |
|
|
1991 * |
3,048 |
2,040 |
64 |
5,152 |
|
|
1992 |
3,017 |
1,848 |
66 |
4,931 | 3,083
|
Bill Clinton
1-20-1993 to
1-20-2001
|
1993 |
2,947 |
1,744 |
66 |
4,758 |
|
|
1994 |
2,908 |
1,648 |
63 |
4,620 |
|
|
1995 |
2,858 |
1,555 |
62 |
4,475 |
|
|
1996 |
2,786 |
1,507 |
61 |
4,354 |
|
|
1997 |
2,725 |
1,439 |
62 |
4,226 |
|
|
1998 |
2,727 |
1,407 |
62 |
4,196 |
|
|
1999 |
2,687 |
1,386 |
63 |
4,135 |
|
|
2000 * |
2,639 |
1,426 |
63 |
4,129 | 2,703
|
George W. Bush
1-20-2001 to
1-20-2009
|
2001 * |
2,640 |
1,428 |
64 |
4,132 |
|
|
2002 |
2,630 |
1,456 |
66 |
4,152 |
|
|
2003 |
2,666 |
1,478 |
65 |
4,210 |
|
|
2004 |
2,650 |
1,473 |
64 |
4,187 |
|
|
2005 |
2,636 |
1,436 |
65 |
4,138 |
|
|
2006 |
2,637 |
1,432 |
63 |
4,133 |
|
|
2007 |
2,636 |
1,427 |
63 |
4,127 |
|
|
2008 |
2,692 |
1,450 |
64 |
4,206 | 2,756
|
Barack Obama
1-20-2009 to present
|
2009 |
2,774 |
1,591 |
66 |
4,430 |
2,839
|
I compiled the figures into the following chart showing which
presidents reduced the size of the federal bureaucracy and which
presidents increased it:
President
|
Non-military
at start of term
|
Non-military
at end of term |
Increase/
decrease
|
Total w/ military
at start of term
|
Total w/ military
at end of term |
Increase/
decrease |
Jimmy Carter
1-20-1977 to1-20-1981
|
2.883 million
|
2.875 million
|
decreased
by 8,000
|
5.002 million
|
4.965 million
|
decreased by 37,000
|
Ronald Reagan
1-20-1981 to
1-20-1989 |
2.875 million
|
3.113 million
|
increased by 238,000
|
4.965 million
|
5.289 million
|
increased by 324,000
|
George H.W. Bush
1-20-1989 to 1-20-1993 |
3.113 million |
3.083 million
|
decreased by 30,000
|
5.289 million |
4.931 million
|
decreased by 358,000
|
Bill Clinton
1-20-1993 to
1-20-2001 |
3.083 million
|
2.703 million
|
decreased by 380,000
|
4.931 million
|
4.129 million
|
decreased by 802,000
|
George W. Bush
1-20-2001 to
1-20-2009 |
2.703 million |
2.756 million
|
increased by 53,000
|
4.129 million |
4.206 million
|
increased by 77,000
|
|
