Page 18 - The Informed Fed--Hearn (edited 10.29.20)

• The federal government has been in business for over 200 years.
That is quite a heritage and testimony to the resiliency of our
country!
• The federal government has over 3 million employees on the
payroll, so you can see why it is the country’s largest employer.
With annual revenues that exceed $3 trillion, it dwarfs many blue-
chip companies like General Motors or Wal-Mart.
• The opportunities offered by the federal government are vast
and diverse. For example: Attorney, FBI agent, Air Traffic
Controller and, of course, the highest position -President of the
United States.
Those facts alone should cause you to pause and reflect. Let us
consider two other very important considerations for the government
employee: job security and stability. In our current job environment, we
consistently see employees of Fortune 500 companies like IBM, Sprint,
and AT&T live with the daily concern of falling victim to the next
massive layoffs. We now realize that businesses and companies, that were
considered household names, are not immune to the threat of
bankruptcy and closure. Remember Circuit City, Enron and MCI? As a
federal employee, that is not a general concern. The U.S has over 300
million citizens. It is also the world’s most powerful and stable nation.
Those citizens will continue to require services such as: national security,
interstate highways, consumer and environmental protection, an
equitable justice system and many other government-provided services.
The federal government continues to do business. History has shown
that its annual growth has topped that of the U.S. economy combined.
Additionally, we need to factor in job security: private employers for
the most part do not have employment contracts in place. This allows
private employers to fire employees at will. Private employees can be
fired for any reason even if it seems unfair. As long as it does not violate
federal or state laws against discrimination on the basis of race, gender
or age; federal employees have a higher level of protection against unfair

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