IT Hiring to Surge by 2012

By fall of 2012, the federal government will hire nearly 273,000 new workers for mission-critical jobs, a large portion of which will be information technology specific, according to a new report by the Partnership for Public Service. The latest "Where The Jobs Are" report, released Thursday, outlines governmentwide, mission-critical hiring needs through 2012 and is based on a survey of 35 federal agencies representing nearly 99 percent of the 1.9 million member federal workforce.

The Partnership found that the government will need to hire approximately 11,549 IT workers during the next three years, in part to replace retiring baby boomers and those leaving federal service for other reasons. The largest demand for IT expertise will come at the Defense, Army, Navy and Homeland Security departments, each of which stand to hire more than 1,000 workers during that period -- largely due to turnover.

The overall projected growth in mission-critical hiring marks a 41 percent increase compared to the 2007 report, which estimated that the government would need to fill 193,000 mission-critical jobs by September 2009.

"This hiring surge comes at a time of high national unemployment and a renewed enthusiasm for public service," the report states. "This means there will be fierce competition for federal jobs, offering the government a chance to select high-caliber talent, reinvigorate the civil service and build a workforce for tomorrow."