Growth of Federal Employees - 1981 to 2010 Last Update: 2/8/2012 Abstract: People have been asking me how many federal employees President Barack Obama has added. The answer is - he hasn't added any.     Growth of Federal Employees - 1981 to 2010   I have had several requests from readers wanting to know just how much President Barack Obama has increased the number of federal employees. The answers is - he hasn’t increased it any and probably has achieved some reduction. According to the Office of Personnel Management - you know, the people who cut the checks - as of 2010 (the last date for which data is available), there were 2,776,000 federal employees, a minimal increase of .07% over the number that existed when President George W. Bush left office - and it includes the census workers. These numbers do not include military personnel or Congressional or Judicial staff. Here’s the history since 1981, when President Reagan took office. Besides increasing the federal debt the greatest amount in history (The Debt: How We Got Here), Reagan is also responsible for the greatest increase in federal employees. During his 8 years in office, federal employees increased by more than 9%. President George H. W. Bush reduced the number by 3.82% and his years included a census. President Bill Clinton eliminated the most federal jobs - a whopping 10.42% reduction in federal employees and those numbers also included a census. President George W. Bush increased federal employees by 5.08%. President Obama, with data for only 1 year in office, increased federal employees by only 200. Many thousands of people were hired for the census which means he actually has achieved a reduction.