Era of Big Government Makes a Comeback

The number of federal civil service workers declined by 50,000 between 1999 and 2002, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. That proves President Bush is succeeding in his push to reduce the size of the federal government, right?

Not exactly. The study distributed last week by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank shows federal employment actually is growing rapidly, but most of that growth has been taking place "off-budget," largely with people hired through contracts and grants.

Nobody knows for sure exactly how many people the federal government employs. Why aren't we surprised? But the Brookings Institution cites various federal databases, the president's budget and the Office of Personnel Management's "Fact Book" to persuasively show the true size of government has grown by more than 1 million workers since 1999. For the most part those workers are paid through federal contracts or grants, rather than hired directly by a government agency. Civil service employment actually has declined.

So, doesn't that growth merely reflect the fact that America 's now fighting a war against terrorism? Not really. While homeland security and defense certainly account for many of the new jobs, the growth is occurring in virtually all areas of government, defense and non-defense alike. Most of the new defense jobs are the result of contracts with makers of weapons, aircraft and such, not increases in the number of men and women in uniform.

Brookings Institution pegs the total direct and indirect federal payroll at 12,115,000 people, up from 11 million in 1999.

But that's not even the whole picture. If you also count up all the state and local workers employed directly or indirectly to satisfy federal mandates, the true size of the federal government swells by 4.6 million - to a total of 16.76 million.

Meanwhile, the private sector has lost nearly 3 million jobs since President Bush entered the White House. So, not only is the federal government growing, but federal employment as a percentage of total employment also is rising. The Brookings study points to a 1999 survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, which found that nearly two of every five U.S. households includes someone who works directly for the federal government or indirectly through grants or contracts, or because of a federal mandate.

Brookings suggests the rise in government employment is neither good nor bad - merely the total required to deliver on all government promises and obligations. That's one way of looking at it. But another way is to look at the size of government in terms of better or worse. We'd argue that smaller government generally is better than bigger. As evidence, we'd point to the 1990s, when the total federal workforce dropped by nearly 1.5 million. Coincidentally, that also was a period of tremendous prosperity, rapid private-sector growth, dramatic gains in productivity and balanced budgets.

Growth of government isn't the only thing that affects the country's prosperity, but it may well be one of the things. It bears watching - even if that growth takes place "off-budget," where it's harder to see.