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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compiles a wide range of employment statistics on employment in the government sector. Government employment can be accessed through the data servlets available under the Databases and Tools header. Data on total government employment are available via CES series Id 9000000001, formatted as monthly totals that net out monthly gains vs. losses. Data on the federal employment subset are available via CES series Id 9091000001.

The following graph displays total government job creation for the period spanning the presidential tenures Reagan through Obama 2011. The data points are operational as average annual change in government sector jobs by presidential tenure, from the month preceding their first full month in office .. to last month in office. 

The following graph displays federal government job creation for the period spanning the presidential tenures Reagan through Obama 2011. The data points are operationalized as average annual change in federal government jobs by presidential tenure, from the month preceding their first full month in office .. to last month in office. The federal government time-series data is sourced from BLS data servletAs the data shows, both federal and total government employment since the advent of the Reagan Presidency expanded far more significantly over GOP tenures than when the Dems hold office. Federal job growth was the strongest over the Reagan years. As significant was the substantial reduction in total government employment over the Obama tenure to date. In the aggregate, for every government job created under the Dems, nearly 2 jobs were created under GOP tenures.