OPM: A bigger federal government

Between October 2002 and October 2004, the number of federal civilian employees increased by 38,302, or 2.1 percent.

Federal Employment Statistics

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The latest federal civilian employment statistics from the Office of Personnel Management show that the government employed 1.8 million people in October 2004, the most recent period on which OPM has released data.

According to OPM’s information, federal employment is expanding. Between October 2002 and October 2004, the number of federal civilian employees increased by 38,302, or 2.1 percent, according to data from OPM’s Central Personnel Data File. The three agencies with the largest workforce gains were the Army, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department.

The largest growth in federal jobs has been at the General Schedule 14-15 grades, which expanded with 10,735 new positions.

More than 1.6 million of the federal government’s 1.8 employees held white-collar jobs in 2004. Non-minorities held more than 1.1 million, or 69 percent, of the white-collar jobs. The ethnic and race breakdown of the GS 2210 occupation series — that’s OPM-speak for information technology management employees — showed a slightly higher ratio of whites to minorities. Of the federal government’s 64,539 IT management employees, OPM reported that 27.7 percent are minorities.

The average salary of federal IT managers is $75,294; for computer specialists, $77,430. An internal revenue agent’s average salary is $78,716.