B.A. Not Good Enough for Government Work

There's a fascinating little item in the latest edition of Issues of Merit, the newsletter of the Office of Policy and Evaluation at the Merit Systems Protection Board. The piece notes that agencies are under increasing pressure to step up their efforts to recruit college graduates to address the anticipated baby boomer retirement "tsunami." But the MSPB folks looked at the top 10 occupational series for which the government hired new employees in fiscal 2005, and found that many of them have specialized requirements that go beyond a liberal arts degree. And in four of the top 10 occupations, agencies hired most of their entry-level workers at GS-9 or above, meaning that applicants needed work experience or a graduate degree in addition to a college education. Unless agencies are having trouble filling these slots, that means that for now at least, they can still afford to be pretty selective in replacing aging workers. If the tsunami strikes, will they have to lower their standards?