Less Government?  Govt. Jobs Have Been Shrinking for 75 Years

By Shlomo Maital

      The current US Administration, and, fleetingly but horrifically, DOGE under E. Musk, has systematically attacked the federal government’s institutions and sought chaotically to slash public spending and public services, claiming “waste”. 

        We have news for it.  Federal employment has been shrinking for 75 years, since the end of World War II, when wartime efforts and the draft were at their peak. (See graph).  Today, less than 2 per cent of all jobs are in the federal government – a decline that has occurred steadily under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. 

         Consider the European Union.  The % of people employed in the national government sector has been stable, at 16-17%.  Some countries have higher figures, like Sweden and Denmark (near 30%), while others, such as Germany and the Netherlands, had lower shares around 11-12%.   Even when US state and local government employment is figured in, US public sector employment is very low.

          Some services are by nature ‘public’ – healthcare, education, defense.  They are best provided by government.  For-profit healthcare has an internal contradiction – the more ill people there are, the more drugs and medical care they consume (for profit). 

          Americans would be smarter, healthier, and probably happier, with more government, not with less.  It seems pretty obvious.  But not to half the population.