Despite years of warnings about a retirement wave, retirements among federal workers have been relatively flat in recent years and the workforce as a whole continues to age in place, according to recent data.
According to a set of OPM data recently published and covering through the end of fiscal 2012, 43 percent of federal workers are now at least age 50, and 12 percent are at least age 60. In 2002, the numbers were 40 and 7 percent.
According to another set of OPM data, the average age is 47.1, up from 46.9 in 2008, while the median age rose in that time from 48 to 48.3.
Retirements of non-postal employees in fiscal 2011, the most recent year for which OPM has released data, were about 61,400, only slightly above the nearly 60,000 a year in 2005-2007 before the numbers dropped for several years during the economic downturn; the 2011 number likely reflects some who would have retired earlier except for the recession.
Other sets of data that are some publications report as indicating exceptionally high rates of retirements include postal employees and reflect the series of early retirement offers made there recently.
