Government employees in the United States includes the

United States federal civil service The United States federal civil service is the civilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-military public sector employees) of the United States federal government's departments and agencies. The federal civil service was established in 1871 ...

, employees of the

state governments of the United States State governments of the United States are institutional units exercising functions of government at a level below that of the federal government. Each U.S. state's government holds legislative, executive, and judicial authority over a defined ...

, and employees of

local government in the United States Local government in the United States refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state. Most states and territories have at least two tiers of local government: counties and municipalities. Louisiana uses the term parish and Al ...

. Government employees are not necessarily the same as civil servants, as some jurisdictions specifically define which employees are civil servants; for example, it often excludes military employees. The federal government is the nation's single largest employer, although it employs only about 12% of all government employees, compared to 24% at the state level and 63% at the local level.

State and local employees

Non-federal employees in states can vary based on unique circumstances: for example, as of 2014, Wyoming had the most per capita public employees due to its public hospitals, followed by Alaska which has a relatively high number of highways and natural resources. The category of Elementary/Secondary Education has the highest employment per capita across states. In 2012, three states passed major changes to their civil service hiring systems as part of a

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

reform movement, making it easier to hire and fire state employees.

Gender and leadership at the federal level

A 2011 study found 39% of head leaders, and 36% of leaders in the top two tiers of leadership in 118 U.S. agencies were women. This study did not account for differences in field of expertise, or years of experience. This study found a significant relationship between the gender of the leader and policy area, with women 2.8 times more likely to hold a high leadership position in an agency with a "feminine" policy area, such as education, health or welfare. The same study found that organizations with a female in the top leadership role had more women in second-level leadership positions. In 2016 women made up 43.3% of the federal

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ...

workforce.

References

{{Civil service *

State and local employees

Gender and leadership at the federal level

See also

References