Nearly 12,000 federal employees submitted retirement claims in September, marking a thirty-three percent increase from August and the highest number of retirement claims submitted since January. This number is also forty-one percent higher than the 7,000 claims the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) projected for September. Overall, 86,676 federal employees applied for retirement since January 2012.

The retirement backlog now stands at 41,176 claims, down thirty-three percent since January. OPM is confident the entire backlog will be eradicated by the summer of 2013. According to Government Executive, it typically takes 156 days to process a retirement claim, though many people wait far longer.

In addition to this increase of federal employees taking advantage of retirement eligibility, federal agencies are seeing hiring freezes. Attrition drastically increased in 2011, and with the use of continuing resolutions and the possibility of sequestration, budgets will not enable additional personnel hires. These decreases of personnel result in a loss of institutional knowledge, causing difficulties in meeting congressionally-mandated missions and goals.

For more information about federal retirements and services, please visit: www.opm.gov.