Federal retirements fall short of projections

Almost 20 percent fewer federal employees retired in fiscal 2001 than government officials had predicted, Office of Personnel Management statistics show. OPM reported Monday that 41,543 full-time permanent civil servants retired in 2001, a 2.8 percent retirement rate. Last year, OPM had projected that 50,771 federal employees would retire, a 3.4 percent rate. Actual retirements fell short by 18.2 percent. The lower rates suggest that employees are waiting longer and longer to retire, a trend that has developed over the past decade or so. In 1988, 40 percent of federal employees retired as soon as they were eligible to do so. By 1997, only 21 percent of employees retired immediately, according to General Accounting Office figures. That trend has contributed to the aging of the federal workforce. Today there are more federal workers in their 60s than in their 20s. The lower rates could also be attributed to the slow economy, civil servants' desire to continue serving the country in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or to anticipation of the 4.6 percent average pay raise given to employees in January, according to Max Stier, executive director of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "What we have now is data," Stier said. "What we don't have is rationale for it." Numerous civil service reformers have been pointing to retirement statistics in their calls for changes to the government's personnel systems. Reformers have frequently said that 54 percent of federal employees-about 900,000 employees-will be eligible for regular or early retirement by 2005. Stier said the lower-than-projected retirements last year mean that the challenge of replacing outgoing workers with deep experience has only been deferred. "Steam is building," he said. In all, 90,969 full-time permanent employees left the federal government in fiscal 2001. Of those, 41,543 retired, 38,962 quit, 6,466 were fired, 1,150 were laid off and 2,797 died. OPM released the end-of-fiscal-year statistics via FedScope, the agency's online database of information on the federal workforce. Other end-of-year statistics include:

• The federal government hired more people in fiscal 2001 than in any of the past five years, bringing on 94,161 new full-time, permanent hires. The government hired only 78,076 people in fiscal 2000.
• New hires (94,161) outpaced separations (90,969) for the first time in at least five years. In fiscal 2000, the government lost 97,776 employees while gaining only 78,076. That change demonstrates the importance of making government an attractive employer to new talent, Stier said. He noted that hiring is likely to increase next year for employees such as airport security workers and Customs agents.
• About 5,500 full-time, permanent federal employees were fired for discipline or performance reasons in fiscal 2001, up slightly from fiscal 2000, when 5,013 employees were fired.
• January was the most popular month for retirement, with 6,050 voluntary and early retirements. The next most popular months were December (4,284 retirements) and June (4,217 retirements). The least popular retirement month was November (1,585 retirements).
• Forty-three percent of federal employees who retired in 2001 had served in the government for 30 or more years.
• The Defense Department hired the most new employees last year (32,928), followed by Treasury (13,626), Veterans Affairs (13,017), Justice (7,035) and Agriculture (5,332).
• The top occupations for new hires in fiscal 2001 were clerks (4,367), customer service representatives (4,046), data transcribers (3,014), secretaries (2,591), nurses (2,420), tax examiners (2,352), correctional officers (2,313), computer specialists (2,162), general administrative help (1,970) and Border Patrol agents (1,475). Many of those occupations have high turnover rates.