The Government Printing Office announced Tuesday that its workforce is at its lowest level in the past century thanks mostly to the roster of employees who took buyouts and early retirement packages.

The agency’s goal was to reduce the workforce by 15 percent, or 330 employees, by the end of 2011.

Ultimately, 312 positions were eliminated — 247 through buyout and early-out offers.

“Our goal is to do more with less in serving Congress, the White House, Federal agencies and the public,” said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. “The buyout we conducted last year will make GPO more efficient in meeting the information dissemination needs of our customers as the digital information platform for the federal government.”

A focus on spending restraint coupled with the government’s greater reliance on gleaning information from digital platforms made 2011 a challenging year for the organization that has always made printed products its main business.

But reducing the size of its workforce will be a big money-saver, according to the GPO’s announcement today: It anticipates savings of $17.9 million for the remainder of this fiscal year and $23.9 million throughout fiscal 2013.