Civil Service

The two main tracks of federal employment: competitive jobs filled through open merit hiring, and excepted jobs filled under special authorities outside the usual rules

The labor organizations that represent federal workers in bargaining over working conditions, under a 1978 law that bars strikes and bargaining over pay

The 15-grade, 10-step pay scale that sets salaries for most white-collar federal employees, adjusted each year and by locality

The roughly 4,000 officials each President chooses to lead the executive branch, about 1,300 of whom need Senate confirmation

The federal job categories that exempt certain policy-related positions from competitive hiring: Schedule C for political aides, and Schedule F, now Schedule Policy/Career, for career employees in policy roles

The corps of about 8,000 top managers just below presidential appointees, created in 1978 to give the government a mobile, accountable class of career executives

The career workforce of the federal government: about two million civilians hired on merit and protected from political dismissal

How many people work for the federal government, where they work, which agencies employ them, and how the workforce has changed, including the 2025 reductions

The list, published after each presidential election, of about 9,000 federal leadership and support positions that can be filled by political appointment