Federal vs. private employment over the last few years

Below, Corrections depicts the absolute deviation from Feb 2010 (the local minimum of total employment) of Federal employment (excluding Census hiring) and private employment (click to enlarge).  Private employment has rebounded by about eleven million workers, while government employment has fallen by about 484 thousand workers, or 2.16% of its February 2010 level. 

The figure below transforms the deviations into percent deviations (click to enlarge).