Federal retirements spike in 2011

Federal retirements increased 24 percent in 2011 from the previous year, according to new statistics from the Office of Personnel Management.

OPM received 104,810 retirement applications in 2011 compared to 84,427 in 2010. The wave of buyouts and early retirement packages during the latter part of 2011 likely contributed to the uptick in departures. Applications surged in January, July and October 2011, in particular.

In January 2012, OPM received 21,479 retirement applications, 9 percent more than in January 2011.

The appeal of buyouts and early outs to agencies grew after the failure of the joint select committee on deficit reduction to agree on a plan to reduce spending by $1.2 trillion triggered across-the-board automatic spending cuts. Those cuts are slated to take effect in January 2013 unless Congress repeals sequestration. While there are no official figures available yet on how many employees accepted such incentives in 2011, tens of thousands were offered, and agencies en masse are likely to offer another round of buyouts heading into fiscal 2013.

The last time the government relied heavily on buyouts and early outs to reshape the federal workforce was during the 1990s as part of the Clinton administration's reinventing government initiative. The difference between then and now, however, is that agencies' use of the incentive in the 1990s was not budget-driven, but part of an overall initiative aimed at making government more efficient and streamlined.

While the increase in retirements could be good news for agencies struggling with budget cuts, the spike in applications also will have an effect on the troubled retirement claims process. There is a backlog of roughly 62,000 retirement claims and Congress is putting pressure on OPM to improve the system and get annuity checks to federal retirees more quickly. A trio of Washington-area lawmakers sent Office of Management and Budget acting Director Jeff Zients a Feb. 6 letter expressing frustration over the matter and asking OPM to work closely with OMB to resolve the delays. It takes an average of 156 days to complete a claim, but many retirees wait a year or more for their payments. Virginia and Maryland are home to more than 250,000 federal retirees.