I'd like to see how that proportional drop in workforce compares to the contracted workforce. Are they actually purchasing less labor or just directly employing fewer of the people they pay for labor?
I think states and cities have legitimately shrunk budgets in proportion to regional economic output since the downsizing efforts of the 80s, but the federal government has not. Tax revenue as a proportion of GDP has dropped, and presumably discretionary budget has, but debt-financed mandatory budget has skyrocketed. The chart from the Fed seems to show outlays in proportion to GDP steadily growing for over a century, but pretty slowly: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S
Obviously, the ginormous spikes for WWII and Covid are outliers.
I think states and cities have legitimately shrunk budgets in proportion to regional economic output since the downsizing efforts of the 80s, but the federal government has not. Tax revenue as a proportion of GDP has dropped, and presumably discretionary budget has, but debt-financed mandatory budget has skyrocketed. The chart from the Fed seems to show outlays in proportion to GDP steadily growing for over a century, but pretty slowly: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S
Obviously, the ginormous spikes for WWII and Covid are outliers.