Federal Workforce Statistics Sources: OPM and OMB

June 10, 2014 – September 29, 2023 R43590

Federal Workforce Statistics Sources:
OPM and OMB
Updated September 29, 2023
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R43590

Federal Workforce Statistics Sources: OPM and OMB

Summary
This report describes online tools, reports, and data compilations created by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that contain
statistics about federal employees and the federal workforce.
The report also describes key characteristics of each resource and briefly discusses selected
methodological differences, with the intention of facilitating the selection of appropriate data for
specific purposes. This report is not intended to be a definitive list of all information on the
federal workforce. It describes significant and recurring products that contain data often requested
by Members of Congress or congressional staff.
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Introduction
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal workforce is composed of
an estimated 2.1 million civilian workers.1 Several federal agencies collect, compile, and publish
statistics about this workforce. Sources may vary in their totals due to differences in the methods
used to compile these statistics.
For example, some sources rely on “head counts” of employees (OPM), some on total hours
worked (such as the Office of Management and Budget [OMB]), some on surveys of employing
agencies, and others on self-identification by workers surveyed in their homes.
In addition, federal civilian employee databases may exclude particular departments, agencies, or
branches of government. Some may also account for temporary or seasonal employees (such as
those employed by the U.S. Census) depending on the time of year the statistics are generated.
This report describes OMB and OPM sources and identifies key differences in methodologies,
including data collection. Understanding these sources and their differences will facilitate
selecting appropriate data for specific purposes.
Comparing Methodologies: On-Board Personnel
Versus Full-Time Equivalents2
One example of a key methodological distinction is the difference between full-time equivalents
(FTEs) and on-board personnel. The following two examples illustrate how the FTE and on-board
methods can be used to derive different federal workforce totals.
Method 1: Full-Time Equivalent Employment (OMB)
The term full-time equivalent employment (FTE) is used to quantify employment as a function of
hours worked rather than by the number of individual employees. One FTE is also known as one
work year. The number of FTEs in an agency is calculated by determining the total number of
regular straight time hours (i.e., not including overtime or holiday hours) worked by employees
and dividing that figure by the number of compensable hours applicable to each fiscal year. One
work year, or one FTE, is equivalent to 2,080 hours3 of work.
Table 1 offers examples in which there is a difference between the actual number of employees
and the number of FTEs working the same number of total hours. It also illustrates how
measuring employment by hours can substantially change the perception of the number of
employees it takes to accomplish the work.

1 U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), March 2023, available at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/. This estimate
does not include the agencies and departments listed at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/datadefn/aehri_sdm.asp#cpdf3.
2 This section was created with assistance from Barbara Schwemle, Analyst in American National Government.
3 The figure of 2,080 hours in the work year is derived as follows: 8 hours per day multiplied by 10 days (in a 2-week
pay period) equals 80 hours; 80 hours multiplied by 26 pay periods (in a year) equals 2,080 work hours.
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Table 1. Measuring Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employment
Normal
Number of
Hours
Total
Total
Actual
Work
Worked Per
Number of
Compensable
Employees
Schedule
Week
Weeks
Hours
FTEsa
1
Ful -time
40
52
2,080
1
2
Part-time
20
52
2,080
1
5
Ful -time
40
52
10,400
5
10
Part-time
20
52
10,400
5
17
Part-time
20
52
17,680
8.5
163
Part-time
20
52
168,520
81.5
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) calculations based on guidelines located in Section 85 of OMB
Circular No. A-11.
a. FTE equals the total number of compensable hours worked divided by 2,080 hours.
FTE employment numbers are used by OMB to manage employment in departments and
agencies. The requirements for reporting FTE employment in the President’s Budget are
prescribed in Section 85 of OMB Circular No. A-11 on “Estimating Employment Levels and the
Employment Summary (Schedule Q).”4
FTE data are published annually in OMB’s Budget of the United States Government under the
individual department and agency accounts in the Appendix as well as in the Analytical
Perspectives and Historical Tables volumes.5
Method 2: On-Board Employment (OPM)
OPM defines on-board employment as the number of employees in pay status at the end of the
quarter. Data for on-board employment provide individual employee head counts in most
departments and agencies as of a particular date, including full-time, part-time, and seasonal
employees. For example, OPM’s Employment and Trends report6 and OPM’s FedScope database7
contain on-board employment head counts.

4 U.S. Executive Office of the President (EOP), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Preparation, Submission,
and Execution of the Budget (Washington: GPO, August 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2018/06/a11.pdf. See Section 85.5 (c) for a detailed explanation of how FTEs are calculated.
5 For example, see EOP, OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Analytical Perspectives Fiscal Year 2022
(Washington: GPO, 2021), pp. 43-44, and EOP, OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Historical Tables
Fiscal Year 2022 (Washington, GPO, 2021), Section 16 - Executive Branch Civilian Full-Time Equivalent
Employment (available in Excel format only).
6 OPM, Federal Civilian Workforce Statistics, Employment and Trends (Washington: OPM). The January 2009 to
September 2013 reports are available at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/
federal-employment-reports/#url=Employment-Trends.
7 OPM, FedScope database, at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/. The database includes all executive branch agencies
except the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense
Intelligence Agency, foreign service personnel at the State Department, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency,
the National Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Vice President, the
Postal Regulatory Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the White House Office, and the U.S. Postal Service.
It does not include the Foreign Service. For more information, see EHRI-SDM’s “Coverage” section at
http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/datadefn/aehri_sdm.asp.
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When calculating on-board personnel, each full-time, part-time, and seasonal worker is counted
separately. When calculating FTEs, the collective hours those personnel work is counted. For
example, an agency reporting 10 FTEs could conceivably report 20 on-board employees,
depending on employees’ work schedules.
In addition, depending on the specific date the employees are counted, an on-board headcount
may result in wider variances in employment numbers than a count of FTEs. For example, the
Census Bureau planned to hire 500,000 Census enumerators leading up to the 2020 Census,8
many of whom were likely to be part-time employees. A count of federal on-board employees
calculated during the employment of these Census enumerators will likely result in a substantially
higher number than a count of federal FTEs during the same time period. The reason being that
an FTE count examines hours worked rather than individual employee numbers.
Office of Personnel Management
OPM is an independent agency that functions as the central human resources department of the
executive branch.9 In fulfilling its mission, OPM collects, maintains, and publishes data on a large
portion of the federal civilian workforce.
In FY2010, OPM established the Enterprise Human Resources Integration-Statistical Data Mart
(EHRI-SDM). This automated system provides access to personnel data for 96% of nonpostal
federal civilian executive branch employees. The database does have exclusions; for example, not
all executive branch agencies submit their personnel data to OPM. These exclusions include some
national security and intelligence agencies, much of the legislative and judicial branches, and the
Postal Service. Even with these exclusions, the EHRI-SDM is widely regarded as the most
comprehensive resource available on the size and scope of the federal workforce.
More than 100 data elements are collected for each federal employee within the EHRI-SDM.
These data are aggregated by OPM and published in the resources described below.
FedScope
FedScope is the OPM website that provides public access to the EHRI-SDM, covering the most
recent five years of employment, accession, and separation data provided by over 500 federal
agencies and their components.10 It is available at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/.
FedScope data are presented in five subject categories, called “cubes,” each covering a different
subject and time span.11 The following are descriptions of the data cubes available through
FedScope:
• Employment. This set of cubes contains the total number of federal employees
of the participating agencies, including employee age, gender, length of service,
occupation, occupation category, pay grade, salary level, type of appointment,
work schedule, agency, and location. Data are published quarterly (March, June,

8 U.S. Census Bureau, “2020 Census Nationwide Recruitment Campaign Gets Underway,” October 22, 2019, available
at https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/2020-recruitment-campaign-launch.html.
9 P.L. 95-454, Title II, §201(a), 92 Stat. 1119, October 13, 1978.
10 For further information, see the “Coverage,” section at http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/datadefn/aehri_sdm.asp.
11 For definitions of each variable, see OPM, “FedScope Data Definitions,” February 18, 2014, at
http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/datadefn/DataDefinitions.pdf.
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September, and December) for the most recent ten fiscal years. September data,
which align with the end of the fiscal year, are available from 1998 to the present.
• Accession. This set of cubes contains the number of people added to the federal
civilian workforce each fiscal year. It includes data elements on employees hired
from outside the government and those who transferred from one type of federal
service category to another.12 The most recent 19 fiscal years of data are
available.
• Separation. This set of cubes contains the number of people who leave the
federal civilian workforce each fiscal year. It captures data elements on
employees who transferred to other agencies, voluntarily resigned, retired,
experienced a reduction-in-force (RIF), were terminated, or died while employed.
The most recent 19 years of data are available.
• Employment Trends. This set of cubes displays the most recent five years of
employment cube data together in one interface, facilitating workforce data
comparisons and trend recognition.
• Diversity. This set of cubes sorts data by an Ethnicity and Race Indicator. Data
elements for 14 categories of racial and ethnic groups are available for the most
recent eight years. September data, which align with the end of the fiscal year,
are available from 2006 to the present.
Table 2 provides some top-level data on total on-board employment available from FedScope.
Table 2. Federal Civilian Employees On-Board Personnel, 2015-2022

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
United States
2,029,293
2,054,135 2,045,458 2,056,092 2,087,269 2,134,575 2,144,744
2,132,723
U.S. Territories
12,311
12,046
12,276
14,386
14,246
14,896
15,288
16,047
Foreign Countries
29,168
29,938
29,085
29,360
30,027
30,200
29,509
29,511
Unspecified Areas
944
919
928
964
1,270
1,435
1,470
2,015
Total
2,071,716
2,097,038 2,087,747 2,100,802 2,132,812 2,181,106 2,191,011
2,180,296
Source: Office of Personnel Management (OPM), FedScope, http://www.fedscope.opm.gov.
Notes: Each total is an “on-board” count for September of the year noted. Current coverage does not include
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency,
foreign service personnel at the State Department, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Security
Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of the Vice President, Postal Regulatory
Commission, Tennessee Valley Authority, U.S. Postal Service, White House Office, foreign nationals overseas,
Public Health Service’s Commissioned Officer Corps, non-appropriated fund employees, selected legislative
branch agencies, the judicial branch, or active duty military.
Employment and Trends
Employment and Trends is an occasional publication from OPM based on on-board employee
data. It provides data on executive departments and independent agencies, including the
Department of Defense (DOD) civilian employees, Executive Office of the President, legislative
branch, and judicial branch. It presents selected data in detailed statistical tables and includes
information by government branch, agency, and location. Introductory material in Employment
and Trends explains the data presented, time lags in data releases, and caveats to consider when

12 The three service categories are competitive service, excepted service, and Senior Executive Service.
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calculating workforce totals. The most recently released version of this resource is available at
http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-
reports/#url=Employment-Trends.
Common Characteristics of Government
Common Characteristics of Government is a publication that includes a brief outline of OPM’s
federal employee databases and includes frequently requested data. The latest edition (FY2017) is
available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-
employment-reports/common-characteristics-of-the-government/ccog2017.pdf.
Sizing Up the Executive Branch of the Federal Workforce
Sizing Up the Executive Branch of the Federal Workforce is an OPM report that provides access
to frequently requested data related to the executive branch. This report includes some
information related to the size of the executive branch by month and year, types of employment,
and other frequently requested data. The most recent report (FY2017) is available at
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-
reports/reports-publications/sizing-up-the-executive-branch-2016.pdf.
Office of Management and Budget
OMB is the largest component of the Executive Office of the President. OMB reports directly to
the President, and it assists executive departments and agencies in implementing priorities and
commitments of the President.13 OMB produces the Budget of the United States, which includes
federal employee statistics created using the FTE counting method.
Budget of the United States
The Budget of the United States, sometimes referred to as the President’s Budget, is a four-
volume set of documents that includes detailed financial information on individual programs and
appropriations accounts. Three volumes of the budget include information on direct civilian
FTEs.14 Tables in the President’s Budget typically include actual FTE levels for prior fiscal years
and estimates for the two most current fiscal years. The U.S. Government Publishing Office
website posts budget volumes dating back to FY1996 at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/
BUDGET/.
Table 3 illustrates an example of some commonly requested federal employment data found
within the President’s Budget.

13 More information on OMB’s mission and structure can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/.
14 EOP, OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Analytical Perspectives Fiscal Year 2023 (Washington: GPO,
2022), pp. 81 and 83; U.S. Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United
States Government, Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2023 (Washington, GPO, 2022), Section 16 – Executive Branch
Civilian Full-Time Equivalent Employment (available in Excel format only); and EOP, OMB, Budget of the United
States Government Appendix Fiscal Year 2023 (Washington: GPO, 2022), pages on which “Employment Summary”
table appears (i.e., Capitol Police on p. 14, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights on p. 16, Congressional Budget
Office on p. 17).
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Table 3. Total Federal Employment
(as measured by full-time equivalents)

Change: 2023 to 2024
2022
2023
2024
Description
Actual
Estimate
Estimate
FTE
Percentage
Executive Branch Civilian
All Agencies, Excluding Postal Service
2,185,751
2,274,192
2,355,917
81,725
3.5%
Postal Servicea
667,363
563,470
554,707
-8,763
-1.6%
Subtotal, Executive Branch Civilian
2,853,114
2,837,662
2,910,624
72,962
2.5%
Executive Branch Uniformed Military
Department of Defenseb
1,383,899
1,344,841
1,343,592
-1,249
-0.1%
Department of Homeland Security (USCG)
41,310
43,036
44,810
1,774
4.0%
Commissioned Corps (DOC, EPA, HHS)
6,239
6,236
6,351
115
1.8%
Subtotal, Uniformed Military
Non-zero
1,431,448
1,394,113
1,394,753
640
less than
0.1%
Total, Executive Branch
4,284,562
4,231,775
4,305,377
73,602
1.7%
Legislative Branchc
31,662
35,257
35,718
461
1.3%
Judicial Branch
32,805
33,376
33,783
407
1.2%
TOTAL
4,349,029
4,300,408
4,374,878
74,470
1.7%
Source: President’s FY2024 Budget, Analytical Perspectives, Table 13-3, p. 145,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2024-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2024-PER.pdf.
a. Includes the Postal Rate Commission.
b. Includes activated Guard and Reserve members on active duty. Does not include ful -time support (Active
Guard & Reserve (AGRSs)) paid from Reserve Component appropriations.
c. FTE data not available for the Senate (positions fil ed were used for actual year and extended at same level).
The following volumes of the President’s Budget include information on federal employees. The
current volumes can be accessed at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.15
Analytical Perspectives
The Analytical Perspectives volume typically includes information on the federal workforce,
sometimes including information on occupations, trends, education level, age distribution, and
other factors. The most current Analytical Perspectives volume of the President’s Budget is
available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/analytical-perspectives/.
Appendix
The Appendix volume typically includes an estimate of individual agency FTEs based on the
President’s proposal along with an estimate and actual FTE count for the prior two years. The
most recent Appendix volume of the President’s Budget is available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/appendix.

15 The U.S. Government Publishing Office website posts complete volumes of the Budget of the United States
Government back to FY1996. They can be accessed at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/BUDGET/.
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Federal Workforce Statistics Sources: OPM and OMB

Historical Tables
The Historical Tables volume of the President’s Budget includes historical data on topics such as
budget, receipts, outlays, and deficits. This volume also typically includes historical employment
counts. The most recent Historical Tables volume of the President’s Budget was released as
multiple Excel files, and they are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables.
Congressional Budget Justifications
Congressional Budget Justifications are submitted to Congress annually by individual federal
agencies and include each agency’s request for the number of FTEs to fund that year. In 2021,
Congress passed legislation that, for the first time, required agencies to make their congressional
budget justifications available to all Members of Congress and the public in a centralized
location. The Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021, P.L. 117-40, included
requirements that annual agency budget justification materials be publicly posted on
USAspending.gov, subject to OMB-developed data standards, and provided to Congress within
two weeks. Access to over 100 department and agency budget justification materials are now
available on USASpending.gov, “Agency Profiles,” at https://www.usaspending.gov/agency.
Congressional Budget Justifications can be another source for data on federal employment FTEs.
Budget justifications often include data similar to what is found in the President’s Budget (one
year of actual data followed by two years of estimates), but may also include FTE data at a more
granular level such as a specific office within an agency.
Consideration of Sources
The resources described in this report contain data often requested by Members or congressional
staff. The sources covered differ in methodology, such as how employees are counted (FTEs
versus on-board employees), which agencies are included or excluded from counts, and the
frequency of data collection. Users should be aware of these differences when using federal
workforce statistics from these sources.

Author Information

Carol Wilson

Senior Research Librarian

Congressional Research Service

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Federal Workforce Statistics Sources: OPM and OMB

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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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