U.S. Office of Personnel Management www.opm.gov - Recruiting, Retaining and Honoring a World-Class Workforce to Serve the American People

Common Characteristics of the Government

This document serves as an overview of the size and characteristics of the Federal civilian workforce, enabling reporters, external analysts, and the general public access to commonly requested descriptive information.

It will first cover the limitations and nature of OPM data. It will then describe commonly used definitions and outline their implications. Lastly, it presents some basic data, in the form of tables and charts, to offer some insight into the current and historical composition of the Federal Government.

2010 Common Characteristics of the Government [1.2 MB]