This chart by Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy breaks down historical fluctuations in federal employment since 1990.  Total federal employment is shown above in blue; non-census federal employment is shown in red.  As shown above, even controlling for the effects of census employment, federal employment has increased constantly throughout the recession and into today. As of today, non-census federal employment has grown by 98,000 employees since the start of the recession.

Veronique breaks down the federal employment flux at NRO's The Corner.