Obama Presides over Smallest Executive Workforce in 50 Years

Hat tip to Ned Hodgman at Understanding Government!

The Tea Party and Kristi Noem are imagining things. Noem recites the standard GOP slogans about how government is getting too big.

However, the plain truth is that President Barack Obama currently manages an Executive Branch workforce that makes up the smallest fraction of the U.S. population in the last 50 years.

Federal Government Employment Levels Through the Years (including the U.S. Postal Service)

	Executive Branch civilians	Total U.S. population	Executive Branch employees per 1,000 population
1962 (Kennedy)	2.48 million	186.5 million	13.3
1964 (Johnson)	2.47 million	191.8 million	12.9
1970 (Nixon)	2.94 million*	205 million	14.4
1975 (Ford)	2.84 million	215.9 million	13.2
1978 (Carter)	2.87 million	222.5 million	12.9
1982 (Reagan)	2.77 million	232.1 million	11.9
1990 (Bush)	3.06 million*	249.6 million	12.3
1994 (Clinton)	2.9 million	263.1 million	11.1
2002 (Bush)	2.63 million	287.8 million	9.1
2010 (Obama)	2.65 million+	310.3 million+	8.4+

SOURCE: Office of Management and Budget, via Washington Post. *= Figure includes temporary Census Bureau workers. += Estimates by OMB and U.S. Census Bureau.

The Executive Branch currently has 2.65 million employees. That's only a 20K increase from George W. Bush's 2002 Executive Branch workforce. That's less than the 2.77 million who worked for Saint Ronald in 1982.

And President Obama's 8.4 Executive Branch workers per 1000 citizens is the smallest proportion on the modern chart. Under Obama, it's easier than ever for us to surround them.

But hey, why let facts stand in the way of a fun party? (By the way, still no commitment from Noem to appear with fellow radical conservative Ted Nugent to thrill her teabagger fans.)