IT’S OFFICIAL: Trump orders hiring freeze for much of Federal government.

Trump had raised the possibility of a hiring freeze during the campaign. At a news conference Monday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the freeze ensures taxpayers get effective and efficient government and said it “counters the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.”

“Some people are working two, three jobs just to get by. And to see money get wasted in Washington on a job that is duplicative is insulting to the hard work that they do to pay their taxes,” Spicer said.

The New York Times reported that Trump called it a stopgap way to control the growth of government until his administration comes up with a long-term solution.

“In carrying out this memorandum, I ask that you seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of these services,” Trump wrote in the memorandum, according to the paper.

The story notes that “the number of executive branch employees hasn’t been this low since 1965, and that the number of employees has stayed more or less steady in the last 15 years.” But it’s unclear if that includes the military, which has seen an almost-radical shrinkage since victory in the Cold War. If the report does include the armed forces, then civilian numbers have swelled almost enough to match what the military has shed.

In either case, the public’s frustration isn’t (entirely) with the sheer numbers of federal workers, but with their unaccountability, and the high pay and benefits they enjoy compared to the private sector workforce, and generally making life more expensive and difficult for the rest of us.

But a hiring freeze is a good first step.