Not a proud milestone

[unixronin]

It is asserted here, supported by data from Contrary Investor (subscription only, it appears), that since what looks like about 2002 the US has had more people employed in government than in manufacturing and construction combined.  From the provided chart, the current margin is about two million.

This is not a good sign at all.

Comments

[n5red.livejournal.com]

Agreed. My political leanings are towards less government. Particularly less federal government.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

"That government is best that governs least."

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

the government that can provide anything, has the power to take everything.

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Yep, and that number is going to grow noticeably over the next four years.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, with minor bobbles it's grown pretty much monotonically and linearly for the last thirty or forty years, so that seems a safe bet. The question is at what point the entire economy collapses under the weight of the government.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Hold on -- I thought the Republicans were the party of small government...

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

"Were" is the appropriate tense, yes.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That.

If you look at the graph, with the exception of a dip in the Reagan administration and occasional minor spikes, it's been a straight line since the chart begins in 1969. The total was about the same at the end of Reagan's term as at the beginning, but aside from that, on average the government's added about a quarter million government jobs per year, Republican and Democratic administrations alike, for the past 40 years. Neither one of them pays more than lip service to the idea of small government.

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

Anyone who states that this kind of thing is either intentionally trying to score a cheap (and ultimately pointless) political point or is ignorant enough of the state of politics where they should forfeit their vote. This hasn't been true in long enough that it is almost like saying 'But I thought the Democrats supported slavery..."

Back in 2000, W actually openly ran on a platform of big government 'Compassionate Conservatism'. Small government was only the ideal of a small part of the party. The rest only liked them when it meant slowing down Democrat plans.

The remarkable thing about our Democrat friends is that even when the Republicans were in complete control and spending whole hog, it never occurred to them that maybe they might pretend small government/federalism was a good idea.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Point of information: Miche is a Kiwi. I believe she probably has a better knowledge of US politics than most Americans (myself included) do of New Zealand politics.

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

I did include ignorant as an option. I suspect you and I wouldn't bother to try to comment on the specifics of NZ politics given our self recognized lack of knowledge on the topic...

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I'm a New Zealander. I have no US vote to forfeit. I am also not trying to score "cheap points".

The Republicans have sold and sold and sold themselves as the party of small government. This was genuine cognitive dissonance.

[rbos.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that this graph is a tad misleading, as the US economy, like most "first world" economies, has been moving away from manufacturing and construction, towards service and knowledge. The fact that the construction/manufacturing line has remained relatively flat over the same period of population growth kind of points to that.

I suspect that if you charted government employment as a percentage of the total employable pool, the numbers would look less stark (though still a concern).

[rbos.livejournal.com]

In fact, I think I'd be worried, if the government payroll didn't increase roughly in line with population.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, you have a point there. But this is a 90% increase in government payroll over a period in which the US population increased by slightly less than 50%. In other words, the percentage of the US population employed by the government is rising almost twice as fast as the population itself, from roughly one in every 17 American residents in 1969 to one in 13.5 today.

[rbos.livejournal.com]

I agree, that is worrying, but the numbers are nowhere near as panic-inducing when cast that way.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.