Government employment at all levels reached its zenith in 2010 at 22.997 million, spiking up dramatically very briefly under Census hiring between April and May 2010, after which it steadily declined. Today it stands at 21.969 million, a drop of 1.028 million from that one-off peak, or 4.5 percent.
More to the point, today's level of government employment was reached for the first time just a few years ago, in 2006, so what's happened is not much of a contraction compared to what happened in private employment, the recent nadir of which was 106.8 million at the end of January 2010.
That level of private employment last prevailed way back in 1998, and from peak to trough is a 7.6 percent decline, over 1.5 times worse than what happened in government jobs.
Private employment today stands at March 2005 levels, no thanks to Obama, but when it comes to shared sacrifice, government today could actually stand to give up some more jobs, say 229,000 more, all things being equal, to match where the private sector stands historically, which is still behind.
But you won't be hearing that from the Whiner In Chief About Fairness.
