A recent article in The Washington Post reports that nearly 30 percent of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire by 2016. For example, 42 percent of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) workforce will be eligible to retire, and at the Small Business Administration, that number is 44 percent.

Many federal government long-term employees cite the protracted budget fights, stagnant wages, and negative public perception of government and federal workers as their reasons for contemplating retirement. 

In many cases, the people leaving government have critical skills that cannot be easily replaced from the ranks or from hiring outside of the agency. Government agencies are responding to this coming loss of critical skills with a range of responses, including investing scarce dollars in the workforce to ensure that they are ready to perform successfully. 

In response to this daunting scenario, Congress has approved a “phased retirement” policy, which would allow retirees, for the first time, to work half-time while they receive partial benefits.  In return, the retirees would train their eventual successors.

For more information, read the complete article, “Wave of Retirements Hitting Federal Workforce.”