A recent GAO report on the federal workforce said that of the the 1.96 million permanent career executive branch employees on board as of September 2012, nearly 270,000 (14 percent) were eligible to retire under standard age and years of service combinations.
By September 2017, nearly 600,000 (31 percent) of on board staff will be eligible to retire.
However, not all agencies will be equally affected. By 2017, 20 of the 24 largest agencies will have a higher percentage of staff eligible to retire than the overall average of 31 percent. More than 42 percent of employees on board as of 2012 will be eligible to retire at both the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). In contrast, that will be true of only about 21 percent of DHS employees.
Certain occupations—such as air traffic controllers and those involved in program management—will also have particularly high retirement eligibility rates by 2017. Custodial, engineering technical, maintenance mechanic, general education and training and medical officer positions all also will have eligibility rates above 40 percent.
