Federal retirements continue to exceed expectations

Workforce

Federal retirements continue to exceed expectations

For three months in a row, the number of federal retirements has exceeded what the Office of Personnel Management projected. OPM estimated it would receive 7...

Jolie Lee

October 5, 2012 11:56 am

< a min read

For three months in a row, the number of federal retirements has exceeded what the Office of Personnel Management projected.

OPM estimated it would receive 7,000 retirement claims in September. The actual number of claims the personnel agency received was 11,952, according to figures released by OPM today.

The government continues to cut its backlog of retirement claims, processing more than 12,500 claims last month. So far this year, OPM has met its monthly processing goal every month except for January.

OPM estimates the wait time is now about 60 days for retirees to receive their first annuity payments. It aims to have the entire backlog eliminated by September 2013. Retired civil servants had at one point waited as long as five months or more for their first payments.

OPM expects to receive 7,000 retirement claims each month in October, November and December, with a large increase — 21,000 claims — in January.

August retirement claims tick up, but OPM continues cutting backlog