Headcount Misses Contractor Workforce

Official employment stats often exclude contractors, fellows, and guest researchers who perform core functions. At HHS, the directory listed ~140,000 entries versus ~82,000 official employees, and many contractor roles weren’t even labeled as such. Counting only civil servants badly understates operational capacity and the scale of cuts. — Debates about state capacity and budget cuts should track total workforce—including contractors—not just civil-service headcount.