Government Employment's Up. Is Anyone Surprised?

The New York Times' Catherine Rampell crunches the numbers (via Ezra Klein) and reports that since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, federal employment is up 2.04 percent. It's the biggest gain in any sector since the downturn began.

The number is news, of course, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the government is an attractive employer during a downturn, due to its generally safe jobs and stable salaries, and that the stimulus requires more hiring to manage beefed-up programs and budgets. USAJobs has 46,990 job listings as of this afternoon. A 2008 survey of 32,000 undergraduates showed that government and public service jobs are topping their lists of choices for post-graduate careers.

Ezra joked "I can see the recruiting posters now. 'The Federal Government: Because seriously, where else are you going to go?'" But a lot of people who work both inside and outside government are both excited and concerned about this new attention to government. It's a terrific opportunity to get a lot of talent into federal agencies at a time when they badly need the most qualified candidates they can get. But it would be a very bad thing for the federal government to continue to be seen as an employer of last resort. It's not ultimately good for government if the main motivation of the people who apply for jobs is stability and safety rather than the nature of the work. Instead, you want people who are deeply dedicated to the work they're applying to do, who see the government as the best place to pursue their ambitions. Folks like the Partnership for Public Service are trying to use this moment to increase the prestige of federal service, not to promote the government as a safe haven.