Summary
Federal Civilian Workforce Characteristics
The federal civilian workforce refers to the non-elected and non-military employees of the government. The President executes and enforces the laws passed by Congress, and the federal civilian workforce assists the President in implementing and administering those statutes. The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government's central personnel agency, reports data for on-board employees on a quarterly basis. These data illustrate trends and changes in workforce characteristics over time. This infographic portrays data for five core characteristics over the last seven Presidential terms, as reported in September of the last year of each term. (In the case of Biden's term, the next to last year. See notes section below on scope of data.)
U.S. Presidents
Joseph R. Biden
Donald J. Trump
Barack H. Obama
George W. Bush
Total Employment
Average Length of Service
Gender
Age
Education
Bachelors Masters Doctorate Post Doctorate
2023
2020
2016
2012
2008
2004
2000
Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management, FedScope (Employment Cubes), at https://www.fedscope.opm.gov/employment.aspx. National Archives, at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7891095. Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/presidential-portraits/. The White House, at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/
Notes: The database includes all executive branch agencies except the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, foreign service personnel at the State Department, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Vice President, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the White House Office, and the U.S. Postal Service.
For more information, see EHRI-SDM's "Coverage" section at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/datadefn/aehri_sdm.asp.
Data are not available for Clinton's first term. The data for Biden's term are reported on September 2023 rather than September 2024, since that data are not yet in Fedscope. Numbers are rounded.
Information as of October 28, 2024. Prepared by Barbara Schwemle, Analyst in American National Government; Carol Wilson, Senior Research Librarian; and Brion Long, Visual Information Specialist.