A jobs boom in the federal government

The Wall Street Journal reports:

One of President Obama's tropes is to disavow any desire for bigger government, but the facts in his new $3.8 trillion budget show he is getting it whether he wants it or not. One revealing detail is the boom in federal employment to levels last seen at the end of the Cold War.

"Civilian full-time equivalent employees," as they're known in budgetese, held relatively constant before Mr. Obama came to Washington, but they surged to 1.978 million in 2009 from 1.875 million in 2008. In fiscal 2010, the Administration expects to add another 170,000 workers—a 14.5% leap in two years. The nearby chart shows the trend in civilian executive-branch hiring since 2000, not including the Postal Service.

The 2.148 million federal employees in 2010 will be the largest number since 2.169 million in 1992, when the Clinton Administration started in earnest to unwind the Cold War defense buildup. So perhaps the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain the federal jobs boom? Hardly. The military employed some 973,000 civilians in 1992, which declined to some 671,000 in 2008 before climbing back to an anticipated 720,000 in 2010.

The real jobs boom is in the federal agencies, not the military—to 1.428 million in 2010, from 1.204 million in 2008 and 1.09 million in 2001. So, for instance, the Agriculture Department will jump to 101,000 in 2010 from 94,000 in 2008, Justice will surge to 119,000 from 106,000, and Treasury to 114,000 from 107,000. We could go on.

The bull market in government growth goes on and on.