When President Donald Trump took the oath of office for a second time in January, more than 3 million people worked for the federal government.
Over the 10 months since, that total has declined significantly. The newest jobs report, released Tuesday by the Department of Labor, shows that federal employees numbered about 2.74 million in November. The total number of federal workers has dropped by about 271,000 in the past 12 months, the Labor Department's data show, and job losses in the government sector have outpaced the losses in other parts of the economy over the past six months. That means the Trump administration has nearly hit its stated goal of reducing the federal civilian workforce by 300,000 this year.
