Sean Spicer's claim of a 'dramatic expansion in the federal workforce' is exaggerated

One of President Donald Trump’s very first acts was to place a hiring freeze on the executive branch, in a promised show of fiscal responsibility....

...Several news outlets quickly jumped on Spicer’s assertion that the federal workforce has expanded dramatically in recent years, saying it was incorrect. We looked at the data ourselves and found that Spicer is cherry-picking....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/24/sean-spicer/sean-spicers-claim-federal-workforce-has-expanded-/