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TheUnited States federal civil service is thecivilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-militarypublic sector employees) of theUnited States federal government's departments and agencies. The federalcivil service was established in 1871 (5 U.S.C. § 2101).^[1] U.S. state and local government entities often have comparable civil service systems that are modeled on the national system to varying degrees.

The U.S. civil service is managed by theOffice of Personnel Management, which in December 2011 reported approximately 2.79 million civil servants employed by the federal government.^[2][3][4] This included employees in the departments and agencies run by any of thethree branches of government (theexecutive branch,legislative branch, andjudicial branch) and the over 600,000 employees of theU.S. Postal Service.

There are three categories of U.S. federal employees:^[5]

• Thecompetitive service includes the majority of civil service positions, meaning employees are selected based on merit after a competitive hiring process for positions that are open to all applicants.
• TheSenior Executive Service (SES) is the classification for non-competitive, senior leadership positions filled by career employees orpolitical appointments.
• Theexcepted service (also known as unclassified service) includes jobs with a streamlined hiring process, such as security and intelligence functions (e.g., theCIATooltip Central Intelligence Agency,FBITooltip Federal Bureau of Investigation,State Department, etc.), interns, foreign service professionals, doctors, lawyers, judges, and others. Agencies with excepted service authorities create their own hiring policies and are not subject to most appointment, pay, and classification laws.^[6][7]

A hiring authority is the law, executive order, regulation that allows an agency to hire a person into the federal civil service.^{[citation needed]} In fiscal year 2014, there were 105 hiring authorities in use. The following were the top 20 hiring authorities used that year, which accounted for 91% of new appointments:^[8]

The pay system of the United States government civil service includes principally the General Schedule (GS) for white-collar employees, Federal Wage System (FWS) for blue-collar employees, Senior Executive System (SES) for Executive-level employees, Foreign Service Schedule (FS) for members of the Foreign Service and more than twelve alternate pay systems that are referred to as alternate or experimental pay systems, such as the first experimental system China Lake Demonstration Project. The current system began as the Classification Act of 1923^[9] and was refined into law with the Classification Act of 1949.

These acts that provide the foundation of the current system have been amended through executive orders and through published amendments in the Federal Register that sets for approved changes in the regulatory structure of the federal pay system. The common goal among all pay systems is to provide equitable salaries to all involved workers regardless of system, group or classification. This is referred to as pay equity or "equal pay for equal work". Select careers in high demand may be subject to a special rate table,^[10] which can pay above the standard GS tables. These careers include certain engineering disciplines and patent examiners.^[11][12]

The General Schedule (GS) includes white collar workers at levels 1 to 15, most professional, technical, administrative, and clerical positions in the federal civil service. The Federal Wage System or Wage Grade (WG) schedule includes most federalblue-collar workers. In September 2004, 71% of federal civilian employees were paid under the GS. The remaining 29% were paid under theFederal Wage System for federal blue-collar civilian employees, theSenior Executive Service and theExecutive Schedule for high-rankingfederal employees, and the pay schedules for theUnited States Postal Service and theForeign Service. Some federal agencies—such as theUnited States Securities and Exchange Commission, theFederal Reserve System, and theFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation—have their own unique pay schedules.

All federal employees in the GS system receive a base pay that is adjusted for locality. Locality pay varies, but is at least 15.95% of base salary in all parts of the United States. The following salary ranges represent the lowest and highest possible amounts a person can earn in base salary, without earning overtime pay or receiving a merit-based bonus. Actual salary ranges differ adjusted for increased locality pay. As of January 2025^[update], all base salaries lie within the parameters of the following ranges:

In 2009, nineteen percent of federal employees earned salaries of $100,000 or more. The average federal worker's pay was $71,208, compared with $40,331 in the private sector, although underOffice of Management and Budget Circular A-76, most menial or lower paying jobs have been outsourced to private contractors.^[13] In 2010, there were 82,034 workers, 3.9% of the federal workforce, making more than $150,000 annually, compared to 7,240 in 2005.^[14]

GS salaries are capped by law, so that they do not exceed the salary forExecutive Schedule IV positions.^[15] The increase in civil servants making more than $150,000 resulted mainly from an increase in Executive Schedule salary approved during the Administration ofGeorge W. Bush, which raised the salary cap for senior GS employees slightly above the $150,000 threshold.^[16]

Civil service employees work in one of the 15executive departments, or one of theindependent agencies. A number of staff organizations are grouped into theExecutive Office of the President, including theWhite House staff, theNational Security Council, theOffice of Management and Budget, theCouncil of Economic Advisers, theOffice of the U.S. Trade Representative, theOffice of National Drug Control Policy and theOffice of Science and Technology Policy.

Independent agencies include theUnited States Postal Service (USPS), theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA), theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA), and theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID). There aregovernment-owned corporations such as theFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and theNational Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), more commonly known asAmtrak.^[17]

In March 2022, there were 392 federal agencies including 9executive offices, 15 executive departments, 259 executive department sub-agencies and bureaus, 66 independent agencies, 42 boards, commissions, and committees, 11 quasi-official agencies.^[18]

In January 2009, about 2 million civilian workers were employed by the federal government, excluding, the postal service and defense.

The federal government is the nation's single largest employer. Although most federal agencies are based in theWashington, D.C. region, only about 16%, or about 288,000, of the federal government workforce is employed in this region.^[20]

In 1789, the federal service employed approximately 300 individuals. By the end of the 19th century, it had reached 208,000. As a consequence of the First World War, this number rose to 900,000.Between the wars, the workforce fluctuated between 5–600,000. The one million mark was surpassed in the early 1940s. A record 3.3 million people worked for the federal civil service by 1945. This figure then receded to 2.1 million by October 1946.^[21]

In the early 19th century, positions in the federal government were held at the pleasure of the president—a person could be fired at any time.Most mechanics and laborers were per diem employees, paid by the day.^[22] Thespoils system meant that jobs were used to support the American political parties. For example employment during the early years of theWashington Navy Yard vacancies for laborers mechanical and other skilled trade jobs were rarely publicly announced; instead they were typically filled through political connections, patronage, and personal influence. See 15 October 1808 letter from Secretary of the NavyRobert Smith to CaptainThomas Tingey^{[23][24][circular reference]} Only on rare occasion would a dearth of skilled applicants require shipyard officers to place public notice in local newspapers; see thumbnail.

In the 1840's and 1850's complaints at Brooklyn Navy Yard re apparent favoritism and blatant political patronage became public and were widely reported in the press.^[25]In October 1841, the Secretary of the Navy directed a Naval Court of Inquiry into the conduct of shipyard Commodore James Renshaw.

The complainants claimed Renshaw had engaged in political patronage and had threatened to remove long service employees for being members of theWhig Party on purely political grounds. They offered as evidence, a list of Brooklyn Navy Yard department heads purportedly compiled by the Commodore Renshaw with each employees name, and their supposed political affiliation. e.g "Administration" "Whig Party" and "Violent Whig". Those with a XX by their name were thought in eminent peril of removal, see thumbnail. The Secretary of the Navy directed a Court of Naval Inquiry to investigate the complaints preferred by the department heads and employees. The Court concluded that Commodore Renshaw had erred and he was removed from command.^[26]

In 1859Harpers Weekly published a widely read satirical sketch which mocked newly hired Brooklyn Navy Yard employees as part knaves, part fools all drunken, all ignorant of the duties required of workmen at the Navy Yard, but all capable of voting many time on election day..."^[27]

This was gradually changed by thePendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 and subsequent laws.^[28] By 1909, almost two-thirds of the U.S. federal workforce was appointed based on merit, that is, qualifications measured by tests.^[29]

From 1816 through 1959, the federal government published a list of employees called theOfficial Register. It started as a biennial list, and became yearly in 1925. As the number of employees grew, theRegister eventually started listing only higher-level employees.

Certain senior civil service positions, including some heads of diplomatic missions and executive agencies, are filled by political appointees. Under theHatch Act of 1939, civil servants are not allowed to engage in political activities while performing their duties.^[29] In some cases, an outgoing administration will give its political appointees positions with civil service protection in order to prevent them from being fired by the new administration; this is called "burrowing" in civil service jargon.^[30]

Public support in the United States for civil service reform strengthened after the 1881 assassination of PresidentJames Garfield.^[31] In January 1883, the United States Civil Service Commission was created by thePendleton Civil Service Reform Act. The commission was created to administer thecivil service of theUnited States federal government. The law required federal government employees to be selected through competitive exams and basis of merit.^[31] It also prevented elected officials and political appointees from firing civil servants, removing civil servants from the influences of political patronage and partisan behavior.^[31][32] The law did not apply to state and municipal governments.

Effective January 1, 1978, the commission was renamed theOffice of Personnel Management under the provisions of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 and theCivil Service Reform Act of 1978.

The 1978 act abolished the United States Civil Service Commission and created the U.S.Office of Personnel Management (OPM), theFederal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and theU.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The OPM primarily provides management guidance to the agencies of the executive branch and issues regulations that control federal human resources.^[33][34]

The FLRA oversees the rights of federal employees to form collective bargaining units (unions) and to engage in collective bargaining with agencies. The MSPB conducts studies of the federal civil service and mainly hears the appeals of federal employees who are disciplined or otherwise separated from their positions. This act was an effort to replace incompetent officials.^[33][34]

During the Trump administrations, Trump frequently spread conspiracy theories that a "deep state" of government workers and Democrats in government were actively working against him and America, and promised to remove them when in power.^[35][36] To this end, he implemented a variety of attempted reforms to root out "disloyalty", which some described as an attempt to politicize the civil service and re-implement thespoils system.^{[37][38][39][40]}

In May 2018, PresidentDonald Trump signed threeexecutive orders intended to crack down on unions that represent federal employees and to make it easier to fire federal workers.^[41] It was claimed that the changes are designed to strengthen merit-system principles in the civil service and improve efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the federal government.^[42][41]

In August 2018, after reviewing the executive orders in detail,U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily^[43] struck down most of the executive orders, ruling that they were an attempt to weaken federal labor unions representing federal employees.^[44] Judge Jackson's ruling was reversed by the DC Circuit on jurisdiction grounds, saying the unions should first have complained to theFederal Labor Relations Authority.^[45]

In October 2020, Trump signed an executive order that created a new category of federal employees,Schedule F, which included all career civil servants whose job includes "policymaking". Such employees would no longer be covered by civil service protections against arbitrary dismissal, but would be subject to the same rules as political appointees. The new description could be applied to thousands of nonpartisan experts such as scientists, who give advice to the political appointees who run their departments.^[46] Heads of all federal agencies were ordered to report by January 19, 2021, a list of positions that could be reclassified as Schedule F. TheOffice of Management and Budget submitted a list in November that included 88 percent of the office's workforce.^[47]

Federal employee organizations and Congressional Democrats sought to overturn the order via lawsuits or bills. House Democrats warned in a letter that "The executive order could precipitate a mass exodus from the federal government at the end of every presidential administration, leaving federal agencies without deep institutional knowledge, expertise, experience, and the ability to develop and implement long-term policy strategies."^[48] Observers predicted that Trump could use the new rule to implement a "massive government purge on his way out the door".^[49] Schedule F was eliminated by PresidentJoe Biden on 22, January 2021, nullifying the personnel changes.^[50]

In January 2025, thesecond Trump administration, with the aid of the newly establishedDepartment of Government Efficiency chaired byElon Musk,^[51] sent amemo offering deferred resignation to all roughly two million federal employees, of which around 75,000 accepted.Mass layoffs began in February of approximately 30,000 federal employees.^[52]

In May 2025, the Trump administration unveiled federal hiring guidance requiring applicants to write essays affirming their commitment to the Constitution, Trump’s executive orders, and government efficiency.^[53] In July 2025, OPM told agencies to deemphasize the essay asking applicants to praise a Trump executive order following a legal challenge.^[54]

• Bogy, Lewis Vital (1891).In Office; a Story of Washington Life and Society. The Ariel Library. Extra no., B. Chicago: F. J. Schulte & Company. A novel of the social ambience surrounding a young female Patent Office clerk
• Bromell, Henry (2001).Little America: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 978-0-525-10425-4. A State Department employee's son reconstructs a childhood in a fictional Middle Eastern country
• Bushell, Agnes (1997).The enumerator. London: Serpent's Tail.ISBN 978-1-85242-554-8. A novel about a public health contractor in San Francisco
• Costello, Mark (2002).Big If. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.ISBN 978-0-393-05116-2. A novel of life in the Secret Service
• Keeley, Edmund (1985).A Wilderness Called Peace. New York: Simon and Schuster.ISBN 978-0-671-47416-4. A novel of a diplomat's son in Cambodia
• McInnis, Kathleen J. (2018).The Heart of War: Misadventures in the Pentagon. Post Hill Press. p. 277.ISBN 978-1682616512. The Devil Wears Prada meets Catch-22; a novel about a young woman's journey into the heart of Washington's war machine.
• Mumms, Hardee (1977).Federal Triangle. New York: Dutton.ISBN 978-0-525-10425-4. Humorous novel of 1970s federal employees in Washington, DC^[55]
• Philipson, Morris H (1983).Secret understandings: A novel. New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN 978-0-671-46619-0. Novel about the wife of a federal judge
• White, Stewart Edward (1910).The Rules of the Game. New York: Doubleday.ISBN 978-1-4432-2300-3.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) A novel of the Forest Service^[56]

• Government employees in the United States
• List of United States federal agencies
• Category:Civil service in the United States
• Curtis Douglas vs. Veterans Administration

• Ogg, Frederic A.; Ray, P. Orman (1947). "The Executive Civil Service".Essentials of American Government (5th ed.).Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Wikisource has the text of the 1921Collier's Encyclopedia articleCivil Service.

• Career Guide to Industries: Federal Government, Excluding the Postal ServiceBureau of Labor Statistics – Statistics and details on Federal civil service
• Federal Workforce Statistics Sources: OPM and OMBCongressional Research Service

• A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies - USA gov

• Civil service in the United States
• Civil services
• 1871 establishments in the United States

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