For all the huffing and puffing that goes on in Washington DC and state capitols about the OPM pay scale and reducing the number of federal employees, the fact of the matter is that federal employment is actually on a rise, and so are federal employee wage levels.
Granted, the rate of growth in the number of federal employees and their annual wage hike has slowed down as compared to the pre-recession growth, but the federal employment workforce is still a long way off from actually having to face cuts in their numbers or wages.
On a state level, a full 35 states gained more federal employees during the past 12 months, while 10 states ended up with fewer net federal employees, and four showed no net change. This is based on federal employment data provided to BLS by 47 states and Washington, DC. Three states haven’t reported their data to the BLS yet.
It’s interesting to note that apart from the Washington DC metropolitan area and the giant coastal economies of California, Washington and New York, the other states that actually gained federal employees in the past year are led by conservative leaders who are advocating cuts in the federal workforce.
States With Biggest Gains and Losses in Federal Employees
For the 12 months from June 2014-2015, Florida gained 2,000 federal employees. North Carolina gained 1,100 federal employees and South Carolina gained 900 federal employees during this period, and Utah gained 800 federal employees.
The DC metropolitan area growth in federal employment during these 12 months included 1,100 in Maryland and 900 in Washington, DC.
Among states where the federal employment workforce is now smaller than a year ago, the biggest losses were in West Virginia (900) and Hawaii (700).
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