Federal Agencies Shed 10,000 Jobs in March

The federal government lost more than 10,000 jobs in March, continuing a downward trend in the size of the civilian workforce over the past two years.

About 1,200 of the job losses last month were at the U.S. Postal Service, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the rest of the federal government lost about 9,000. Uncle Sam has cut 85,000 jobs in the past 12 months.

Overall, the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 percent. The federal government ended the month with just more than 2.7 million civilian employees, including USPS workers.

The number of total government jobs remained steady in March, as state and local government job gains offset the losses at the federal level.

While the number of federal employees -- excluding the Postal Service -- has actually increased by about 50,000 since President Obama took office, the workforce has trended downward significantly in the last two years. Sequestration and other budget cuts have forced many agencies to institute hiring freezes and reduce their workforces through attrition.

Click here for a chart demonstrating the job losses in the federal workforce in the last 24 months.  

(Image via kaarsten/Shutterstock.com)