Economic Outlook No 117 — General government employment by country
The OECD Economic Outlook presents the OECD’s analysis of the major global economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, government spending, prices and current balances based on a review of each member country and of the...
What the numbers show
Economic Outlook No 117 — General government employment is currently reported for 21 countries. The highest value is 23.75 million in United States of America; the lowest is 52,295 in Luxembourg.
The median across all reporting countries is 986,857, and the mean is 3.07 million.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 454.
Over the past decade 18 countries rose and 3 fell. The largest increase was in Ireland (up 38.7%), and the largest decrease in Hungary (down 22.8%).
Economic Outlook No 117 — General government employment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 23.75 million | 2026 | up 6.8% | rising |
| 2 | France | 6.42 million | 2026 | up 3.1% | rising |
| 2 | Poland | 2.55 million | 2026 | up 2.5% | flat |
| 3 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 6.07 million | 2026 | up 14.3% | falling |
| 3 | Netherlands | 1.29 million | 2026 | up 15.7% | rising |
| 4 | Canada | 4.57 million | 2026 | up 30.0% | rising |
| 4 | Lithuania | 312,746 | 2026 | down 0.1% | falling |
| 5 | Japan | 4.22 million | 2026 | down 15.2% | rising |
| 5 | Estonia | 166,734 | 2026 | up 20.2% | rising |
| 6 | Italy | 3.63 million | 2026 | up 6.6% | rising |
| 7 | Spain | 3.39 million | 2026 | up 19.8% | rising |
| 8 | Sweden | 1.57 million | 2026 | up 9.4% | rising |
| 9 | Israel | 986,857 | 2026 | up 25.1% | rising |
| 10 | Belgium | 945,937 | 2026 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 11 | Norway | 914,198 | 2026 | up 10.5% | rising |
| 12 | Denmark | 883,348 | 2026 | up 7.9% | rising |
| 13 | Portugal | 814,770 | 2026 | up 18.7% | rising |
| 14 | Finland | 672,091 | 2026 | up 7.4% | rising |
| 15 | Hungary | 646,516 | 2026 | down 22.8% | falling |
| 16 | Ireland | 576,085 | 2026 | up 38.7% | rising |
| 17 | Luxembourg | 52,295 | 2026 | up 34.5% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Euro area (17 countries) 25.91 million
- Slovak Republic 475,452
About this data
The OECD Economic Outlook presents the OECD’s analysis of the major global economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, government spending, prices and current balances based on a review of each member country and of the induced effect on each of them on international developments. OECD (2025), OECD Economic Outlook No 117 (Edition 2025/1) EO117 Database documentation EO117 Last historical points gdp inflation cpi population unemployment real gdp gdp per capita employment OECD Economic Outlook website: https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/ Contact : eco.outlook@oecd.org Keywords : Outlook, forecasts, forecast, GDP