Getting to know the federal workforce 

The federal workforce is at a crossroads. With the average retirement age climbing, the government faces a demographic challenge: nearly twice as many workers are in their 60s than their 20s. Meanwhile, DOGE is implementing large-scale staff reductions. These shifts — plus retirement mandates for certain positions — are reshaping how the government operates and serves the public. 

 

Here’s more on the federal workforce, pre-DOGE. (Don't worry, we'll have the updated 2025 numbers for you next year)

 

As of November 2024, the federal government employed just over 3 million people. Historically, federal employment was highest in 1990 at 3.4 million. The most recent low was in 2014, at 2.7 million.  

Employment spikes occur when the government hires temporary workers to conduct the decennial census. For the 2020 census, federal employees increased from 2.9 million in January to 3.2 million in August. By December, the workforce returned to where it was at the start of the year.   

 

In November 2024, 1.9% of all jobs nationwide were in the federal government. 

The federal workforce is older than that of most sectors. In 2023, the average federal employee age was 47.2, higher than the overall US labor force median age of 42.2. Even after factoring in state and local employees, government workers still have the second-highest median age: 44.9.  

 

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting workers have a median age of 46.1, making it the lone sector with older employees than the government.  

Meanwhile, the gap between older and younger federal workers is broadening. In 2005, 8.1% of federal workers were 60 or older, while 6.9% were in their 20s. By 2024, nearly twice as many workers were in their 60s (14.8%) than their 20s (7.8%). Out of 2.1 million full-time, permanent workers, more than 28% were 55 or older.  

The average retirement age for federal employees keeps creeping up, reaching 62.3 in 2022 — up 1.5 years from 2014 and 4.7 years from 1998. Certain jobs require mandatory retirement, including air traffic controllers (at age 56) and law enforcement, firefighters, and nuclear material workers (at age 57 if they’ve been on the job for more than 20 years). In some cases, supervisors can override these mandates.  

Between September 2022 and 2023, more than 108,387 left the workforce. 

Before we go, we'd like to shout out canine coworkers. As of February 2022, 5,159 dogs worked across 40 federal programs. Another 421 dogs were contractors.  

Twenty-six programs used dogs to identify explosives, radiological materials, and nuclear weapons. Other jobs included narcotics detection, patrolling, and tracking missing people. 

That’s all for this week. In the coming weeks, we’ll also cover the demographics of federal workers — and how much they make.