the great depression showed the american population that there was a growing need for the government to manage economic affairs. the size of the federal government began rapidly expanding in the 1930s, growing from 553,000 paid civilian employees in the late 1920s to 953,891 employees in 1939. the budget grew substantially as well. in 1939, federal receipts of the administrative budget were 5.50 percent of gross national product, gnp, while federal expenditures were 9.77 percent of gnp. these numbers were up significantly from 1930, when federal receipts averaged 3.80 percent of gnp while expenditures averaged 3.04 percent of gnp.