Federal Video and Public Affairs Workforce Study

Key takeaways

1. The federal government employed 726 civilian audiovisual production specialists in August 2026, down 22.4% from 936 in December 2024; the whole federal civilian workforce fell 12.4% over the same months. See details
2. Public affairs staff fell 26.8%, from 7,718 to 5,652, after growing from 5,697 in September 2015 to a peak of 7,718 in December 2024; writing and editing staff fell 35.1%. See details
3. Health and Human Services lost 51.2% of its public affairs staff (361 to 176), the steepest fall among the departments with 150 or more such employees. See details
4. Audiovisual production staff were already shrinking: 1,139 in September 2015, 726 now, down 36.3%. See details
5. The Defense Department employs 43.4% of them (315, down from 379); the U.S. Agency for Global Media fell from 90 to 64. See details
6. Outside the Defense Department, whose pay OPM withholds, the median audiovisual production specialist is paid $129,904 a year in basic pay; most are GS-12 or GS-13. See details

How much did federal video and communications staff shrink?

We read the Office of Personnel Management's monthly employment snapshots of the federal civilian workforce (OPM Federal Workforce Data) for five communications occupations. From December 2024 to August 2026, the audiovisual production series (1071) fell from 936 employees to 726, down 22.4%. The whole federal civilian workforce fell 12.4%, from 2,312,301 to 2,024,832, so these occupations shrank faster than the government around them.

Which agencies lost the most public affairs staff?

Public affairs, the largest of the five, fell from 7,718 to 5,652 (-26.8%). It had grown from 5,697 in September 2015 to 7,718 in December 2024, so it is now below its 2015 level. Among departments with 150 or more public affairs employees in December 2024, Health and Human Services fell the most: -51.2%, from 361 to 176.

Were video jobs shrinking before 2025?

Yes, slowly. The audiovisual production series had 1,139 employees in September 2015 and 937 in September 2024, while the whole federal workforce grew. With the drop since December 2024, it is down 36.3% from 2015.

Where do federal video producers work?

The Defense Department employs 43.4% of the audiovisual production staff (315 in August 2026, down from 379). Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Agency for Global Media follow; the Agency for Global Media went from 90 to 64. Only 34.0% work in Washington, D.C., Maryland or Virginia, against 63.1% of the dollars agencies spend on video production contracts, in our federal video production contracts study.

What do they earn?

OPM withholds pay for every Defense Department record. Across the other 383 audiovisual production specialists whose pay it publishes, the median is $129,904 a year in basic pay plus locality. 85.4% are on the General Schedule, most at GS-12 (209), GS-13 (189) and GS-11 (146). The basic pay of those 383 people alone adds up to $49.1 million a year, 2.0 times the $24.0 million agencies obligated on video production contracts in fiscal 2025.

What this means

• Federal communications shrank faster than the government. Every one of the five series fell more than the 12.4% drop in all federal jobs.
• Fewer in-house producers can mean more contracted work, or less video. Our federal video production contracts study tracks the contract side.
• Headcount is not layoffs. The counts include retirements, resignations and transfers as well as reductions in force.

Mark Studios edits corporate and training video for organizations that need it done without a full-time team.

How we ran the study

Data. OPM's Federal Workforce Data employment files (downloads, API): record-level snapshots of the federal civilian workforce on the last day of a month, read November 1, 2026. We used every September from 2015 to 2025, December 2024, and every quarter after it to August 2026: 18 snapshots. Headcount is the sum of the records in each occupational series: 1071 audiovisual production, 1084 visual information, 1060 photography, 1035 public affairs and 1082 writing and editing. Employees are civilians only; uniformed military personnel are excluded (OPM definitions).

Pay. Annualized adjusted basic pay (basic pay plus locality), from records where OPM publishes it. OPM redacts some fields to comply with its data release policy, including every Defense Department pay record in this series.

Limitations

• Some agencies are not covered. OPM's data leave out intelligence agencies, the Postal Service and some others (OPM).
• Series are job classifications. A video producer classed as public affairs or visual information counts there, and some audiovisual staff do audio or broadcast engineering.
• Snapshots are revised. OPM publishes new versions of recent months; we used the current version of each on the read date.
• Pay excludes the Defense Department and the other redacted records, so the median describes the rest.

How to cite this study

Link to the section you use, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/federal-video-workforce-study#public-affairs. To cite the study as a whole:

Mark Studios. "Federal Video and Public Affairs Workforce Study." Published November 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/federal-video-workforce-study

@misc{markstudios_federal_video_workforce_study_2026,
  author = {{Mark Studios}},
  title = {{Federal Video and Public Affairs Workforce Study}},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/federal-video-workforce-study},
  note = {Last verified 2026-11-01}
}

Our counts and the CSVs are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. The underlying OPM data are public.

Sources

Headcount by snapshot and series (CSV) Public affairs staff by department (CSV)

Widely quoted video statistics on other topics are traced to their origin, with a verdict on each, in our research fact-check.

1. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Workforce Data: API access (employment snapshots). Accessed 2026-11-01.
2. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Workforce Data: data downloads. Accessed 2026-11-01.
3. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Workforce Data: getting started (definitions). Accessed 2026-11-01.
4. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Employment dataset notes (agencies EHRI excludes). Accessed 2026-11-01.

Update policy and change log

OPM publishes a new snapshot each month. We plan to update this page every quarter. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.

• November 1, 2026: First published.