21,995,000 to 12,329,000: Government Employees Outnumber Manufacturing Employees 1.8 to 1

Those employed by government in the United States in August of this year outnumbered those employed in the manufacturing sector by almost 1.8 to 1, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were 21,995,000 employed by federal, state and local government in the United States in August, according to BLS. By contrast, there were only 12,329,000 employed in the manufacturing sector.

The BLS has published seasonally-adjusted month-by-month employment numbers for both government and manufacturing going back to 1939. In the first 50 years of the 76-year span since then, manufacturing out-employed government. But in August 1989, government overtook manufacturing as a U.S. employer.

That month, government employed 17,989,000 and manufacturing employed 17,964,000.

Since then, government employment has increased 4,006,000 and manufacturing employment has declined 5,635,000.



According to the BLS data, seasonally-adjusted manufacturing employment in the United States peaked in June 1979, when it hit 19,553,000. Seasonally-adjusted government employment peaked in May 2010, when it hit 22,996,000.

(However, government employment in May and June of 2010 was unusually high because of temporary workers hired to help conduct the decennial census. In April 2010, there were 22,569,000 government employees in the United States. That climbed to the peak of 22,996,000 in May 2010, then dropped to 22,740,000 in June, and returned to 22,659,000 in July 2010.)

There were more Americans employed in manufacturing in 1941 in the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor than are employed in manufacturing in the United States today, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This August, according to BLS’s seasonally adjusted data, there were 12,329,000 employed by the manufacturing sector in the United States. But back in August 1941, there were 12,532,000 employed by the manufacturing sector. By December 1941, the month of the Pearl Harbor attack, employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector had risen to 12,876,000.



The 12,532,000 employed in manufacturing in August 1941 equaled 1 manufacturing worker for each 10.6 people in the overall population (which the Census Bureau estimated at 133,402,471 in July 1941). The 12,329,000 employed in manufacturing in August 2015 equaled 1 manufacturing worker for each 26.1 people in the overall population (which the Census Bureau estimated at 321,191,461 in July 2015).

The 4,821,000 people employed by government in August 1941 equaled 1 for each 27.7 people in the overall population of 133,402,471. The 21,995,000 employed by government in August 2015 equaled 1 for each 14.6 people in the overall population of 321,191,461.

Of the 21,995,000 employed by government in August, 2,738,000 worked for the federal government (including 596,500 who worked for the Postal Service), 5,092,000 worked for state governments, and 14,165,000 worked for local governments.

State and local government employees include large numbers of people employed in education. Of the 5,092,000 who worked for state governments in August, 2,446,300 (or 48 percent) worked in education. Of the 14,165,000 who worked for local governments, 7,852,500 (or 55.4 percent) worked in education.

I'm sensing this bothers you. Why?

it don't bother me, I just thought it was a topic that needs some discussion, Maybe I was wrong, but that number seems a bit high.

Does that include teachers, police, firefighters, DPW employees, and the military?

Start the layoffs.
Start with the house & senate and all their staff.

1000ppm said:

Start the layoffs.
Start with the house & senate and all their staff.

Click to expand...

watch out folks, angry child on the loose!

1000ppm said:

Start the layoffs.
Start with the house & senate and all their staff.

Click to expand...

1000ppm's is too high..you're going to burn your plants.

So let me guess, the Trumpers want to get rid of all government so nobody will have a fucking job? Is that what Trump "winning" means?

In the 70's it began with electronics. But now is different. Marrysville Ohio plant has 600 robots. Welding, painting, loading, etc. 24/7 I could go on. I've been in manufacturing maintenance since 1973. One plant I worked at replaced ~ 100 people with one grind cell. 6 mil they bought 2. 2 operators and 2 laborors. And a headache for 4 maintenance people. But it paid well. Next is additive manufacturing. No foundries very little machining and if any metallic mixures not available by normal means where as additive allows very odd Alloy's to happen. Good for companies. Not good for employment. I retired as I've had enough. Foxconn who makes Apple products announced major automation changes to reduce employment. Anyway manufacturing employment will continue to decay. As will retail. Believe me they weren't happy paying me what they paid me. But the parts were worth $100k and up so they made a bit of profit. But I was still overhead. Not a good future imho. I just read Missouri just passed a law to stop cities from raising min above $7.70.

dandyrandy said:

In the 70's it began with electronics. But now is different. Marrysville Ohio plant has 600 robots. Welding, painting, loading, etc. 24/7 I could go on. I've been in manufacturing maintenance since 1973. One plant I worked at replaced ~ 100 people with one grind cell. 6 mil they bought 2. 2 operators and 2 laborors. And a headache for 4 maintenance people. But it paid well. Next is additive manufacturing. No foundries very little machining and if any metallic mixures not available by normal means where as additive allows very odd Alloy's to happen. Good for companies. Not good for employment. I retired as I've had enough. Foxconn who makes Apple products announced major automation changes to reduce employment. Anyway manufacturing employment will continue to decay. As will retail. Believe me they weren't happy paying me what they paid me. But the parts were worth $100k and up so they made a bit of profit. But I was still overhead. Not a good future imho. I just read Missouri just passed a law to stop cities from raising min above $7.70.

Click to expand...

Sadly, the paradigm has shifted.

Re-train at something else, you can still do in your 50s even to bring you the retirement.

Think about what you like (other than manufacturing) and concentrate on this. How about training as a tech that services the machines that took your job? You can get retraining for free..go to your local unemployment office..we call it re-employment here in Florida..they'll send you to tech school (or college) where you can get certified. They'll help place you. They do a lot more now than just handing out checks ala 1970s.

This MUST be done..commissarating is not going to help.

Also, Minimum Wage always follows Fed (whichever higher) to benefit the employee..doesn't matter what Missouri Show Me State Bible Beaters do.

schuylaar said:

Sadly, the paradigm has shifted.

Re-train at something else, you can still do in your 50s even to bring you the retirement.

Think about what you like (other than manufacturing) and concentrate on this. How about training as a tech that services the machines that took your job? You can get retraining for free..go to your local unemployment office..we call it re-employment here in Florida..they'll send you to tech school (or college) where you can get certified. They'll help place you. They do a lot more now than just handing out checks ala 1970s.

This MUST be done..commissarating is not going to help.

Also, Minimum Wage always follows Fed (whichever higher) to benefit the employee..doesn't matter what Missouri Show Me State Bible Beaters do.

Click to expand...

I also know the latest tech. No desire to work. I'm enjoying retirement! But a lot of factories still have stuff from the 70's and the 60's. Very large machines making parts 12' or larger diameter are very expensive. A vtl with a Fanuc 31 control and clm including laser tvg large enough to machine that part is easily $2 mill. A machining center we got it large enough to do these are made in Japan and run~ 3 mil installed. But the parts were worth $600k when done. Around 1 per week per machine x $600k. Of course those castings are very expensive. Engineering, maintenance. Used to be one operator per machine. 1 for 4 now. Automation Even Musk and several others believe there needs to be a robot tax. Others say no.