LoginIn the United States, federal hiring has declined to a six-year low, with fiscal pressures brought on by shrinking budgets leading to high-impact spending cuts. The majority of positions created have been in defense and security with another large amount coming from the IT sector.
Government agencies only hired 89,689 new employees in 2012, nearly half of them veterans and seventy-five percent in defense and security, according to the Washington Post. As retirement and younger employees increasingly leave the public sector, further issues with employment are expected, as many agencies focus on replacing new employees. Approximately 19,500 of the new hires were made in the hospital and public health sector.
About 5.3 percent of the positions filled in 2012 were in IT positions, according to Nextgov. The sector came in fifth in overall hiring, after medical and public health officials, administrative and clerical workers, investigators and miscellaneous employees. As a whole, the number of new government hires has dropped nearly 40 percent since 2009.
The top agencies for hiring were the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Department of Homeland Security.