Government employment actually FELL during this economic recovery. Is that why the recovery still doesn't feel that strong?

The chart above is courtesy of here. It's in turn via here, which notes that it's fairly unprecedented, at least in modern times -- government employment tends to rise during recoveries, but not so this time. The public sector has about 21.9 million jobs, which is the lowest point it's been in years -- and overall, they even employ slightly less people …