Federal Employees That are Waiting to Retire Until Later

January 6, 2019

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″ el_class=”section section1″][vc_column_text]Federal employees average retirement age is continuing to rise, and in the 2017 fiscal year, it reached an average of 61.8 years. This was an increase within a half year in 2015 based on a recent report shown by OPM.

The VA and the Army are the two largest agencies with the reported increase that was nearly a full year from 63.3 and 62.3 years respectively. Other agencies that had a notably higher average age excluding some small agencies where retirement skew the numbers are Civil Rights Commission at 68.4, CFTC was 67.5, Federal Maritime Commission at 67.1 years.

Agencies that were on the lower end include the Justice at 56.2, Transportation at 59.7. The two had a large number of employees that were eligible for early retirement based on the special provision, law enforcement officers in the former scenario and air traffic controllers for the latter.

A little difference is present based on gender with an average age of 61.7 years for female and 61.9 for male. There was less difference based on race and ethnicity, but there was a substantial difference in their occupation. Clerical workers were among the latest retirees at 63.3, followed by individuals in professional occupations at 63.1. The earliest being in another category that included those under special retirement provisions at 55.4.

The reason the average age continued to increase was not delved in the report. A common voiced explanation included the desire to continuing with salary earnings for longer. Simultaneously, there was a build up for later retirement benefits and nature of most jobs demanded less physical health improvements that resulted in longer career periods.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”34698″ img_size=”292×285″ style=”vc_box_shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]