The number of US government employees has grown steadily over the past 70 years since the end of the Great Depression. The same cannot be said of the private sector. Another way to examine the situation is to realize that as private productivity increases, the workers in those respective industries inevitably pave the way forward for their own eventual layoffs.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-goods-producing-wrokers-vs-government-payroll-2010-1
http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2010/01/goods-producing-vs-government-jobs.html