According to Max Steir, President of the partnership,
“the government is in triple jeopardy,” because the talent
pool available to replace the aging baby boomer population
in government “has run dry.”
The public and private sectors will be in close competition
for workers in the coming years, said Andy Wright, group
director of the New York Times Job Market, which sponsored
the study, adding that “workers with expertise in the
biological sciences, physical sciences, engineering and
nursing will find themselves in particularly high demand.”
“One reason that government has struggled to attract new
talent has been its failure to look at the whole picture
when assessing talent needs, and only doing hiring on an
ad hoc basis,” said NAPA President C. Morgan Kinghorn,
adding, “This government-wide assessment is a critically
needed resource to help federal managers identify ways to
woo the highly skilled, knowledge workers they need, and
to let job seekers with these skills know that there are
outstanding opportunities for them in public service.”
The report calls for funds and congressional support to
develop state of the art recruitment materials to improve
the image of federal service, an ongoing PPS goal.