[grumbelbart]

> the federal workforce excluding the postal service (which has actually shrunk, as a semi-private employer) has grown by about 1% per year since 2000

That's less than it seems though, given that the US population has grown with over 0.7% per year for most of those years.

https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/usa/uni...

[timr]

> That's less than it seems though, given that the US population has grown with over 0.7% per year for most of those years.

So what? Why does government have to grow proportionally with the size of the population? This is not a given in any other organization.

[SR2Z]

You generally expect the size of an organization to scale with the scope of its activities, especially if its activities include "healthcare" and "building roads."

[throw0101c]

> Why does government have to grow proportionally with the size of the population?

It does not, and did not:

* https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES9091000001