One of the chief goals of Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review, begun in 1993, was to "cut 252,000 government jobs -- especially administrative jobs that do not serve people directly -- in five years." Federal employment has been reduced by nearly 200,000 jobs; but some analysts question whether this the result of "reinventing government?"

Not counting the U.S. Postal Service, the Office of Management and Budget says that:

• Federal executive branch civilian employment (in full-time equivalents) in fiscal year 1992 was 2,169,000 and in 1995 it was 1,970,000 -- showing that 199,000 jobs have been cut.

• But most of the cuts were made in civilian employment at the Defense Department , which fell from 973,000 in fiscal year 1992 to 822,000 in 1995 -- for a total of 151,000 jobs.

• Also included in the reduction total are 9,500 positions eliminated when the Resolution Trust Corporation went out of business at the end of 1995.

Critics point out that the downsizing of the Defense Department is a result of the end of the Cold War and reduction in military expenditures -- not more efficient civilian programs. The RTC went out of business when it finished bailing out financial institutions. Thus, if all the remaining reduction in federal employment is credited to the National Performance Review, the actual net effect has been a cut of about 38,500 employees.

Source: Benjamin Zycher, "'Reinventing Government' and Federal Employment," Jobs & Capital, Spring 1996, Milkin Institute for Job & Capital Formation, 1250 Fourth Street, Second Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90401, (310) 998-2600.