The U.S. federal government employs over 2 million civilian workers across a wide range of departments and agencies. From defense to environmental oversight, these workers keep essential services running across the country.
In this graphic, we chart America’s federal workforce by major department, as of March 2025.
🔗 visualcapitalist.com
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I suppose that's technically true, but only because they've crowded out or criminalized private provision.
Mostly, what they do is completely unnecessary and counterproductive, while also bidding up the prices of goods and services with money that was stolen from you.
I think the shutdown demonstrated most if not all the furloughed 'workers' were not essential
Yes, but everyone with three functioning brain cells already knew that.
I'm not sure I got that right. Are you saying it's forbidden to outsource to private companies for these departments? Do they all have to be public servants?
In some cases, yes, it is illegal to compete directly with a state agency. The Post Office is a fairly trivial example: it's illegal for UPS or FedEx to carry letters. Air traffic control is another example.
In other cases, the issue is that the state effectively floods the sector and leaves no room for a private alternative to be profitable. Research and adjudication are both examples of this: there is some private sector activity in those areas but the vast majority of it is funded through the state.
Air traffic control can be 'privatized' like Canada, France, Germany or Switzerland
Everything that has real market demand can be privatized.
My point is that state bureaucrats only provide that service because they don't allow anyone else to.
The shutdown demonstated most federal government employees are not essential
How'd you figure that?
#1280180
I only got two. Can you break down how you figured that out?
All the essential employees are working without pay like Air Traffic Control and TSA, airport security
The furloughed employees were laid off because they are "non essential"
edit: you have more than 2 brain cells, you are being too modest, dare I say sarcastic
Actually, I got 2.4! ~lol You said most of them aren't essential, meaning we only need like 1.05 million staff. I'm just tryna figure out which of those other 1.05 million people you'd be firing.
I don't know how many were on furlough... these are not essential employees
If they were 'essential', they would not have been placed on furlough