31 Percent Of Feds Will Be Eligible To Retire By 2017

The federal workforce from 2004 to 2012 grew by more than 250,000 workers, in part due to the government’s increased mission focus on cybersecurity, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The report outlined growth in mission critical job areas and permanent career positions, but cautioned that agencies will need to implement broader workforce planning efforts in order to keep mission-critical areas like cybersecurity fully staffed in the face of looming retirements in the coming years. The report outlined growth in mission critical job areas and permanent career positions, but cautioned that agencies will need to implement broader workforce planning efforts in order to keep mission-critical areas like cybersecurity fully staffed in the face of looming retirements in the coming years. More specifically, GAO found that federal nonpostal civilian employment grew 14 percent from 2004 to 2012, from 1.88 million to 2.13 million. Three agencies -- the Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments -- accounted for 94 percent of this increase, with job fields like acquisition, cybersecurity, veteran medical services and border security cited as the major drivers of personnel increases, GAO found.