According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, government accounts for about 8% of jobs in the United States. Here's the breakdown using numbers easily accessible on the BLS website (all numbers from 2006 or 2007):
1,774,000 Federal government civilian employees, excluding Post Office
615,000 Post Office
1,172,913 Military enlisted
230,577 Military Officers
2,424,000 State government (excluding education and hospitals)
5,594,000 Local government (excluding education and hospitals)
That's a total of 11,810,490 government jobs.
The total number of jobs in the U.S. in 2006 was 150,600,000, so government employment makes up 7.84% of all jobs.
In 2007, the U.S. population (according to the Census Bureau) was 301,621,157, so about 4% of Americans are employed by the government.
According to a study by Paul C. Light, a government professor at New York University, the Federal Government also employed 14.6 million contractors in 2006. This was an increase of 2.5 million since 2002, and the study attributes the increase directly to contractors hired as part of the war on terror. (reported in the Washington Post)
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Headline numbers are scary with 600,000 laid off in a month being comparable to a depression like number (gross). But the population is larger so as a percentage the 600,000 number is actually less than depression like (net).
To the question;
As of 2/7/2009 60.5 percent of the population is (legally) employed...very bad as this also includes all government workers (public sector) who derive their salary from taxes gathered from employees in the private sector (cashiers,realtors etc.).
Regards,
nmewn
As of September 2021, the unemployment rate in the United States is around 4.8%. This percentage represents the number of people who are actively seeking employment but are unable to find a job.
As of June 2014, the percentage of Americans who are unemployed was 6.3. This translates to over 92 million people without a job.
1 out of every 7 workers is a government employee !
Many States (like New York) have a percentage higher than 16 % of their workforce.
As of October 2021, the unemployment rate in the United States was around 4.6%. This rate can vary monthly due to various economic factors and is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by the total labor force.
Approximately 30% of Americans have at least one tattoo. This percentage has been steadily increasing over the years, particularly among younger generations.
The unemployment rate in the United States in 1963 averaged around 5%.
Approximately 28% of Americans flew commercially in 1970.
As of October 2021, around 6.9 million people in the U.S. were unemployed, resulting in an unemployment rate of 4.6%. These numbers can fluctuate monthly due to various factors influencing the job market.