Budget seeks largest increase in federal civilian workforce since 2009

Budget

Budget seeks largest increase in federal civilian workforce since 2009

After years of flat or even declining staffing levels at agencies across the federal government, the Obama administration wants most agencies to begin staffing ...

Jack Moore

March 10, 2014 4:25 pm

2 min read

After years of flat or even declining staffing levels at agencies across the federal government, the Obama administration wants most agencies to begin staffing up again.

In fact, President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2015 budget proposes the largest governmentwide staffing increase since 2009.

All told, the budget calls for the size of the federal civilian workforce to increase by 14,000 positions — a 0.7 percent increase from current staffing levels.

Last year’s budget proposed adding about 6,100 employees to the ranks of the civil service, a much smaller 0.3 percent increase. In fiscal years 2011 and 2012, the administration proposed cutting staffing by thousands of positions.

Most agencies would be due for modest staffing increases next year, according to a supplementary budget volume released Monday.

Among the agencies with the largest percent increases to their workforces are a more than 7 percent staffing boost to the Treasury Department — much of it for the Internal Revenue Service — and a nearly 12 percent boost to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The budget plans to slightly trim the Defense Department’s workforce by 0.8 percent — or about 6,300 positions.

Agency	2013 (estimated)	2014 (estimated)	Difference
Agriculture	90,200	90,800	&#9650 0.7 percent
Broadcasting Board of Governors	1,800	1,800	— No change
Commerce	42,600	45,100	&#9650 5.9 percent
Defense	755,400	749,100	&#9660 0.8 percent
Education	4,100	4,100	— No change
Energy	15,700	15,900	&#9650 1.3 percent
Environmental Protection Agency	15,600	15,400	&#9660 1.3 percent
General Services Administration	12,500	12,100	&#9660 3.2 percent
Health and Human Services	72,500	74,600	&#9650 2.9 percent
Homeland Security	190,100	189,800	&#9660 0.2 percent
Housing and Urban Development	8,700	8,900	&#9650 2.3 percent
Interior	69,200	69,900	&#9650 1 percent
Justice	116,800	117,400	&#9650 0.5 percent
Labor	17,200	17,800	&#9650 3.5 percent
NASA	17,900	17,600	&#9660 1.7 percent
National Archives and Records Administration	3,000	3,000	— no change
Nuclear Regulatory Commission	3,800	3,900	&#9650 2.3 percent
Office of Personnel Management	5,400	5,400	— no change
Securities and Exchange Commission	4,200	4,700	&#9650 11.9 percent
Social Security Administration	62,200	64,100	&#9650 3.1 percent
State	33,300	33,300	— No change
Transportation	55,900	56,800	&#9650 1.6 percent
Treasury	101,400	108,800	&#9650 7.3 percent
Veterans Affairs	319,200	321,400	&#9650 0.7 percent