2,000 More Feds in 2013?

With many federal agencies tightening their budget belts, many federal employees are worried about the potential for layoffs, hiring freezes and cuts to federal pay and benefits. But President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposal, released Monday, calls for a slight increase in full-time federal employees.

The budget estimates an overall increase of 2,000 workers next year, which would make 2013 the fourth straight year that federal civilian employment has topped 2.1 million employees. Even with the slight increase, however, the budget estimates 18,000 fewer workers in 2013 than 2010.

Not surprisingly, agencies like the Defense Department would face cuts to their full-time workforce. Defense would have an estimated 7,000 fewer workers in 2013 than in 2012, bringing the total number of Defense employees down to 757,000.

The Agriculture, Health and Human Services and Education departments and the Social Security Administration also could see slight decreases in the amount of full-time workers, according to the budget proposal.

Still, other agencies would see slight increases in full-time employment. The most notable increase would come at the Veterans Affairs Department, which would add an estimated 5,000 new employees. The Treasury, Justice and Homeland Security departments also would add workers, while the Transportation and Interior departments would keep roughly the same number of workers.

What are your thoughts on the 2013 workforce projections? Given Obama's commitment to improve the efficiency of the government workforce going forward, should the hiring of additional IT workers play a role?