“This document serves as an overview of the size and characteristics of the Federal civilian workforce, enabling reporters, external analysts, and the general public access to commonly requested descriptive information. This document will first cover the limitations and nature of the federal employment data that OPM regularly posts on the web. It will then describe commonly used definitions and outline their implications. Lastly, it presents some basic data, in the form of tables and graphs, to offer some insight into the current and historical composition of the Federal Government…As a prerequisite to analyzing and interpreting the OPM’s employment data, one must understand (a) the coverage of the OPM’s databases, (b) the various types of employment, (c) the basic trends in Federal employment, and (d) the common practices of the Data Analysis Group (DAG). The validity and accuracy of inferences drawn from OPM statistics will depend heavily on these four items…Often, OPM coverage is equated to the Federal Executive civilian workforce. The coverage is in fact exclusively Federal and exclusively civilian, but the data exclude a few major components of the Executive Branch (most notably the Postal Service and many intelligence agencies) and include some pieces of the Legislative Branch. For specific exclusions and inclusions, visit FedData on the OPM’s website. One final point about personnel coverage, OPM data do not include contractors.”