<P> As of January 2009, the Federal Government, excluding the Postal Service and soldiers, employed about 2 million civilian workers . The Federal Government is the nation's single largest employer . Although most federal agencies are based in the Washington, D.C. region, only about 16% (or about 288,000) of the federal government workforce is employed in this region . </P> <P> There were 456 federal agencies in 2009 . </P> <P> The pay system of the United States government civil service has evolved into a complex set of pay systems that include principally the General Schedule (GS) for white - collar employees, Federal Wage System (FWS) for blue - collar employees, Senior Executive System (SES) for Executive - level employees, Foreign Service Schedule (FS) for members of the Foreign Service and more than twelve alternate pay systems that are referred to as alternate or experimental pay systems such as the first experimental system China Lake Demonstration Project . The current system began as the Classification Act of 1923 and was refined into law with the Classification Act of 1949 . These acts that provide the foundation of the current system have been amended through executive orders and through published amendments in the Federal Register that sets for approved changes in the regulatory structure of the federal pay system . The common goal among all pay systems is to achieve the goal of paying equitable salaries to all involved workers regardless of system, group or classification . This is referred to as pay equity or ("equal pay for equal work"). Select careers in high demand may be subject to a special rate table, which can pay above the standard GS tables . These careers include certain engineering disciplines and patent examiners . </P> <P> The General Schedule (GS) includes white collar workers at levels 1 through 15, most professional, technical, administrative, and clerical positions in the federal civil service . The Federal Wage System or Wage Grade (WG) schedule includes most federal blue - collar workers . As of September 2004, 71% of federal civilian employees were paid under the GS; the remaining 29% were paid under other systems such as the Federal Wage System for federal blue - collar civilian employees, the Senior Executive Service / Senior Level and the Executive Schedule for high - ranking federal employees, and the pay schedules for the United States Postal Service and the Foreign Service . In addition, some federal agencies--such as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation--have their own unique pay schedules . </P>

When did the military first begin hiring civilian employees