I work in government. vs I work for the government.

[sadra1400]

1) I work in government.
2) I work for the government.

What is the semantic difference between1 and 2? Are they the same?
I ask this question because we do not use "the" when discussing our job area. Why do we use "the" in the second?

 

[tedmc]

You work for an organization.
The organization is the government.
So you work for the government or the public sector/government service as it is also called.

 

[emsr2d2]

#1 means that you are actually part of the government.
#2 means that you're something like a civil servant.

A lot more people can say they work for the government than can say they work in government.