Federal retirements outpace predictions
Numbers for March more than double estimates, but less than February's total.
Are federal employees forming a line out the door? (Stock image)
More federal employees than expected retired in March, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management reported in the Federal Times.
According to the article, 10,183 feds retired in March, and 20,374 in February. The February figure was augmented by U.S. Postal Service buyouts, OPM said.
By contrast, 7,090 federal employees retired in March 2012. Officials had predicted that 5,000 would do so in March of this year.
The numbers may reflect the continuation of a trend. After several years of warnings about a coming mass exodus of senior federal employees, the numbers have begun to rise. According to a 2012 FCW article, retirements in the final quarter of calendar year 2011 totaled 45 percent more than in the last quarter of 2010, and retirements were up 19 percent year over year, with retirements accelerating each quarter.
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