Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for April 3, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
April 3, 2017: The number of federal regulatory employees has jumped dramatically over the past several decades. These employees work for 77 different agencies tasked with various forms of economic and social regulations.
As shown below, there are five times as many regulators today than there were in 1960, three times the 1970 total, and nearly twice as many in 1990.
| Number of regulatory staffers (full-time equivalents) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2017 |
| 57,109 | 90,275 | 146,408 | 152,706 | 175,878 | 270,885 | 283,996 |
| Source: Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis and the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center in Washington, D.C. Derived from federal budget data. | ||||||
These figures include only agencies that directly regulate private sector behavior. Agencies that set rules for taxes, entitlements, and other government programs are not included. For example, the IRS and its roughly 80,000 employees are not included. As a result, the total number of regulatory employees is actually higher than the figures indicated above.
Despite understating the size and growth of the regulatory bureaucracy, the numbers highlight some fascinating trends. While Republicans today are generally skeptical of the regulatory state, the building of the bureaucracy has been a bipartisan effort. The number of regulators grew rapidly under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in the 1970s.
In this century, regulatory growth occurred under both Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama. Under Bush, most of the growth involved the Department of Homeland Security.
It’s also interesting to note that the number of regulators grew during the 1980s. A central campaign theme of President Ronald Reagan had been that the most frightening words in the English language were “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Despite Reagan’s efforts to cut back the regulatory state, the number of regulators kept growing.
In my forthcoming book, Politics Has Failed: America Will Not, I make the case that the growth of the regulatory state is one of the key reasons for the political tension and polarization in America.
- Last Friday’s number looked at the 31 Pivot Counties in Iowa. These are the counties that voted twice for President Obama and then voted for Donald Trump. There are more Pivot Counties in Iowa than anywhere else in the nation.
- Last Thursday’s number showed that the average worker receives $11.03 per hour in benefits. The increased cost of benefits, primarily related to health insurance, takes more than $3,000 away from salary and wages annually.
- Wednesday's number was $25 billion, the cost of storing paper records in warehouses. We now generate so much paper that a firm is building robots to clean up the mess.
- Tuesday’s number was 14, the number of U.S. presidents who made one or fewer appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is possible that Neil Gorsuch could be Donald Trump’s only chance to elevate someone to the court.
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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