New Interactive Map Shows Federal Employment Nationwide

New Interactive Map Shows Federal Employment Nationwide

10/11/2013

Revenue & Spending, Press Room

PRESS RELEASE
-For Immediate Release-
October 11, 2013
Contact: Brian Gumm, bgumm@foreffectivegov.org, 202-683-4812

New Interactive Map Shows Federal Employment Nationwide
More federal employees than average in the districts of 81 obstructionist House members

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2013—The Center for Effective Government today published a map identifying the states, counties, and congressional districts where the more than 2 million federal employees in this country work. This interactive map used the most up-to-date information from the Office of Personnel Management, dated June 2013. The data is collected by county.
Federal employees are distributed across the country. Analysis of the data shows that 92 percent (1.9 million) of federal employees work outside of Washington, D.C, contrary to public perception. The states outside of D.C. with the highest number of federal employees are California (173,248), Virginia (154,013), Texas (145,412), Maryland (132,803), and Florida (92,583). The total number of federal workers is about the same now as it was 30 years ago despite substantial increases in the size of the population.
The map highlights in red the districts of those members who signed the letter written by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) sent to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) demanding that the Affordable Care Act be defunded in any continuing resolution to fund the federal government. On average, there are 4,800 federal employees per congressional district. Perhaps surprisingly, the average number of federal employees in the districts held by the 81 House members who demanded the Affordable Care Act be defunded is higher than this average: 6,300.
But the number of federal employees across the 81 districts of obstructionist House members varies dramatically. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) – the House author of the provision attached to the continuing resolution that would have defunded the Affordable Care Act – has only 298 federal workers in the counties included in his district, whereas Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM), another signatory on the Meadows letter, has some 21,901 federal employees in his district. See the table at end of this release for information about the estimated number of federal employees in all 81 districts.
"Federal workers serve the national interest and live in communities all across America, but a small faction of one chamber of Congress, representing about 11 percent of voters, is refusing to keep essential government services operating," said Nick Schwellenbach, senior fiscal policy analyst at the Center for Effective Government.
Federal employees are almost certain to receive back pay once the shutdown ends. However, disruptions in the work of the federal government are occurring. They touch a wide swath of activity, from workplace safety inspections to disease outbreak monitoring to health research in government labs. Without a spending bill, funding for programs such as Head Start is running dry, putting the education and care of disadvantaged children at risk. Home loans are being stalled by the thousands, and meal programs for the elderly are being cut.
News reports indicate that a majority of House members would vote for a clean spending bill to get the federal government running again if Boehner were to bring such legislation to the House floor.
The interactive map is available at http://tesla.foreffectivegov.org/FedEmp/bin-release/.

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