Feds will be hiring thousands

The federal government will be hiring, that's for sure, and it's more than likely that information technology professionals will be in demand to implement President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget that still must be approved by Congress. The estimates for just how many peole will be necessary are all over the place. Independent experts say it will be 100,000 new people. The conservative Heritage Foundation pegs it at closer to a quarter million.

"It is premature to be making any assumptions about overall federal employment levels," White House budget director Peter Orszag said. "We have no desire to bloat bureaucracy--indeed, just the opposite--and the budget will not do that."

But there are a number of areas where there will be a big need for more professionals. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs expects to hire more than 17,000 new employees to help expand veterans' access to health care. Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration will be able to hire many new staff to handle a backlog that has piled up for people seeking SSA disability payments. Behind these initiatives and many more is the need for a tech-savvy staff that can short circuit the bureaucracy and deliver the goods and services on time and efficiently.

"This is obviously a new world. We've had a government that has been starved," said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service....When you look at virtually every agency in government--whether it's food inspectors at the Food and Drug Administration or claims examiners at the Social Security Administration--across the board, we've had all too few people doing the business of government."

For more on the government's hiring plans:
- check out this Washington Post article
- also see this Federal Times article