The U.S. now has the fewest government workers since 2001

Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images

The U.S. now has the fewest government workers since 2001
(Image credit: Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

Yesterday's jobs numbers revealed a shocking truth, at least for those who believe that President Obama is a socialist/communist/Marxist/Alinskyite.

As Floyd Norris at the New York Times points out, government now employs 15.9 percent of all Americans who have jobs. That is the lowest proportion since 2001, and almost a million less people than five years ago. Hardly what you'd expect from a pinko determined to turn the U.S. into a European-style socialist republic.

But the more serious point is that this slide in government employment has come at a time when there remain millions of unemployed people who could use a job.

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Fortunately, as Norris points out, the layoffs may finally be coming to an end:

The good news (if you want people to be working) or bad news (if you hate the government) is that this string may finally be nearing an end. The number of government workers rose 13,000 in February. The current figure is only 9,000 under the number for March 2013, so a comparable increase this month would produce a year-over-year increase. [New York Times]

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John Aziz is the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate editor at Pieria.co.uk. Previously his work has appeared on Business Insider, Zero Hedge, and Noahpinion.