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

[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.