Pennsylvania Avenue with federal buildings including US Archives building, Department of Justice, FBI Headquarters and Capitol Hill. Image: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe number of executive branch federal employees was 2,180,296 as of last September, the end of fiscal year 2022, according to figures newly posted by OPM. That’s down by about 9,000 during the course of the year and making it virtually the same—about 1,000 more—as the 2,181,106 at the end of fiscal 2020.
The figure had risen during fiscal 2021 by about 10,000 to 2,191,101. The comparable figures for fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019 were 2,100,802 and 2,132,812.
The figures on OPM’s FedScope site represent a headcount and differ somewhat from figures included in budgetary documents that measure the workforce in terms of full-time equivalent employment. They exclude the self-funding Postal Service as well as intelligence agencies; judicial branch and legislative branch employees also are excluded.
Cabinet departments collectively fell by about 6,000 to about 2,016,000. The greatest growth was at the VA, up by about 9,000 to about 436,500, while Treasury gained about 4,000 to about 98,800—almost all of that attributable to the IRS. The largest, DoD, dropped by about 19,000 to about 746,500. The rest were little changed, generally up or down by 1,000 or less.
Independent agencies of 1,000 or more employees collectively fell by about 5,000 to about 150,400; that mostly was due to a drop of about 2,000 at the SSA to about 57,800 and a drop of about 3,800 to about 6,000 at the SBA. Gains at agencies including the EPA and GSA partly offset those declines.
Medium and small independent agencies collectively increased employment by about 200 to about 13,900.
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