Monday, March 4, 2013

Effects of Sequestration on Govenrment Hiring Practices

On March 1st, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sequestered $85 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 spending as mandated by the Budget Control Act. This across - the - board cut will slow job creation within the federal government.

If you still want to apply for government jobs, you need to be prepared now more than ever. We are happy that applying for federal jobs has gotten easier, you just need to know that there are just going to be less jobs to apply for.

FAA jobs - In March 1st, the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") instituted a complete hiring freeze which means that FAA will not be able to feed the pipeline of departing controllers, inspectors and technicians.

State Department and USAID jobs - USAID’s operating budget has been reduced by nearly $71.4 million. It is likely that USAID will implement a hiring freeze for both Civil and Foreign Service Officers.

Department of Defense jobs - The Army is the process of releasing about 1,300 temporary and term employees and implement an Army - wide hiring freeze. The Army is also planning for the furlough of up to 251,000 civilian employees.

The Navy will furlough most civilians for 22 work days. The Navy will cancel 23 ship maintenance actions affecting shipyards around the count ry. The Navy will also cancel emergency repairs to the USS MIAMI, the USS PORTER, and the USS MONTPELIER.

The Energy Department - Out of 4,500 employees at the Y-12 site, between 700 and 1,000 will be furlough for a period of up to 6 months. The Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas will furlough up to 2,500 employees for 3 weeks. Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico will furlough over 500 for about 2 weeks. And Sandia National Labs will lay off up to 100 positions and forgo hiring staff to support the B61 bomb life extension program.