Sequestration Budget Cuts Data: Which IL Counties Have the Most Federal Employees?
See how Cook County—which has nearly 25,000 federal employees—compares to the rest of Illinois.
The numbers here show the federal employees in Illinois by county in 2012, according to the latest figures from Eye on Washington, a DC-based lobbying firm that tracks federal employment. It compiles the data from the Office of Personnel Management, Federal Employment Statistics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While much has been written on how the current sequestration battle in Washington could affect the national economy, these numbers are meant to give readers a sense of the sequestration at the local level.
Cook County has nearly 25,000 federal employees, most of whom work in veterans affairs.
The Department of Defense and Department of Human Services employ more than 4,900 people in the county. Roughly 14,000 civilian defense employees statewide would be furloughed under the sequester, which would reduce gross pay by $83.5 million.
Army base operation funding would be cut by about $19 million, while funding for Air Force operations in Illinois would be cut by about $7 million. Four planned Naval Station Great Lakes demolition projects ($2 million) could be canceled and a scheduled Blue Angels show in Rockford could be canceled.
Still, no one knows for certain what the sequestration cuts, some $85 billion, will mean exactly. Even if the March 1 federal cuts are enacted, the full effects would not be felt immediately. The government is required to alert impacted agencies of what cuts are to be made and what workers are to be furloughed.
It should be noted, however, that even the suggestion of cuts and the notification process itself could be felt in some community economies. Uncertainty for federal workers means they are likely to tighten their belts until they see what the cuts look like – and how long they last. It means those workers will likely spend less money at local shops and restaurants.
In some communities there may be only a handful of federal workers and the impacts may be small. But, as these figures show, in other counties federal employees numbers in the thousands and in those places the sequestration could become a more significant pain, particularly if it drags on for weeks or months.
(U.S. Postal Service Employees are excluded in this count. The USPS receives no tax dollars in its operations and would not be affected by the sequestration cuts.)
Ryan Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.
Mr. Ed
11:59 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
There is an easy way to fix this. All federal employees need to have an extra 20% federal tax taken out of there checks for the privilege of living off the sweat of the taxpayer, or have their workweek cut to four days. Social Security benefits needs to be frozen at the current level. Same with Medicaid and Medicare. SS was never meant to be a retirement package. The president, the congress and the senate need to give their pay back to the treasury and work for free. Bin Laden and Saddam are dead. It's time to bring our troops home and convert them to border agents and keep all the illegal aliens out. Our medical system is already saddled with our own citizens that need to be taken care of.
If our government was run like a business it would be bankrupt. Oh gee, it already is. Instead of newspapers writing articles about who is going to loose what, they should write articles about 16 Trillion of debt and the effect it has on our purchasing power.
Medicare looses about $120 billion a year. Has anyone ever questioned if these losses are from the inside of the agency? Remember GSA employees going on fancy vacations that were supposed to be meetings? Our government needs to go back to zero based budgeting and cut out every non-critical function.
Since Lyndon Johnson was president the taxpayers have payed $16 trillion for his Great Society programs. It is time to scrap these programs and figure out something that is more sustainable. Enough is Enough.
Dinkum
12:27 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
I'll go further with the pay reduction. Taxpayer supported jobs should NEVER be equal to, or great than, comparable private sector jobs. There's little or no accountability in the public sector. Or just get rid of half of them. Example: what exactly did we D2 residents "miss" with the Jackson fiasco? Representation?
But forget the border patrol idea. Bring them back, one time bonus, them cut them loose. Reduce, reduce, reduce.....
HF Homeowner
12:49 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
@Mr.Ed & Dinkum... Every time there is a post, your names appear more than any other resident thats always complaining about politics. Run for office, why don't cha!!!
Dinkum
1:47 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
Sure HF H. I'll run for office and publicly declare the following:
- Governments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights. I oppose all interference by government in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals. Specifically:
1) the right to life -- accordingly I support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others;
(2) the right to liberty of speech and action -- accordingly I oppose all attempts by government to abridge the freedom of speech and press, as well as government censorship in any form; and
(3) the right to property -- accordingly I oppose all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain, and support the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation.
- People should not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of others. They should be left free by government to deal with one another as free traders; and the resultant economic system, the only one compatible with the protection of individual rights, is the free market.
And I'll never hold an elected office because the group think majority has no interest in these lofty principles. They just want to know how the government is going to "solve their problems", fund programs with little impact, or spend money even if they don't have it.
Mr. Ed
2:35 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
I would need $20 million dollars to take down the Madigan/Cullerton/Daley/Obama
machine. Do you have the money? Or should I steal it from the taxpayers.
ep concerned
3:10 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
There is a heated mayoral race in Evergreen Park. A woman is running against the incumbent. She has been pounding the pavement as I saw her campaining in the neighborhood last week. She is running write in since the powers to be got her kicked off the ballot. I'm voting for her. The machine has got to go! Shawn Good is her name. Where has the incumbent been? I'm tired of these "good ole boys" politics wheere they gain and we lose......
evergreenlove13
7:07 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
"Heated mayoral race" lol
She got herself kicked off the ballot by not following the rules.
Don't even try to compare EP politics to Federal politics. You make yourself sound even more foolish Mr. or Mrs. Good p.s. where can one find your platform?
Sarfla Terry
8:04 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
yep we don't need that obumacare or crook county bedbug hospitals, or social security, post office if we invest the post office and gas trust funds we will have a surplus and then with social security trillions we let the Fed invest it with Chase or Citi or even the Vatican or bank of Jerusalem! We should have long ago gotten rid of the the food and other inspectors and regulators especially those at the Nuke reactors, EPA,FDA,air controllers no more giving money to Cargill and big ag or the trillion wasted on the F-22 and the other Pentagon boondoggles, this is a unique form to masturbate orally especcially any GOP voter who is pissed about jobs and votes for slave and child labor candidates.The Madigan machine as the above post said destroyed the democratic party with a a lot of help from the biz interests, get off yer butt and turn off stupid drugsters and do something about it, there a lot;s more of u than him and his goons! It' about having the waevils!
Mr. Ed
8:27 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
Sarfla, are you another product of the Chicago school system?
Sarfla Terry
11:26 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
no the North Shore why do you ask?
Juvenal
8:26 am on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Here's how twisted the media'c coverage of the sequester is: Bob Woodward, the journalist who brought down Nixon, and who has the best sources in the business, writes a column establishing clearly that Obama was responsible for creating the sequester and "moving the goal posts" when attempts to avoid it were made: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-22/opinions/37238840_1_jack-lew-treasury-secretary-rob-nabors
The media, however, has devoted all its efforts to ridiculing Woodward for suggesting the White House told him he would "regret" running that column - and they were right....
BUTCH
9:45 am on Saturday, March 2, 2013
@Juvenal--- And you know this because? Mr deep throat is trying to revise a falling star career, the threatening emails from the WH is a figment as is your misinformation and a failure of sorts! What is true on the subject is it could have been avoided but maybe they will make a deal on the twin obstacles to progress seques. and debt limit but I would look for a bridge salesman rather than expect the congress to stop production of the F-22, going on a trillion in overruns,
If HST was POTUS the first to be hit would have been every installation, post office airport and contract on every GOP(T Party ) contract in Red States, soon the interbred s would have gotten the message and it will begin to penetrate which is does not seem to do in terms of infrastructure needs again right now. The fact that most thinking people (which disqualifies the GOP) learn from their mistakes but because they are always denying them nothing changes or works.
BUTCH
10:00 am on Saturday, March 2, 2013
Mr Ed if i were a six figure lotto winner i WOULD SOON BE BROKE after spending it all on trying to bring down the DEM BANKSTERS, Sarfla is obviously not from the North Shore Tparty strongholds and certainly from the CPS maybe home Schooled by tree huggers or the folks who think the texass size garbage dumps in the Pacific are a threat to even yer snarky comments life and the leaky contamination at Hanford and Fuki which most TPARTY usually ignore or deny happening.