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 While facing tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities and trillions more in deficits, the federal government somehow plans to hire 273,000 new “mission-critical” employees over the next three years, according to a new report entitled “Where the Jobs Are” released by the Partnership for Public Service. And that is just the beginning.
Research from the organization also shows that new hires for all types of federal jobs during Barack Obama’s four years will reach almost 600,000 — nearly one-third of the current federal workforce.
"Given the mind-set of most government managers I’ve encountered, I’m a little surprised they didn’t define all 600,000 as 'mission critical,'" wrote Cato’s Tad DeHaven in a piece entitled "Does the government need more employees." "But 270,000 or 600,000, that’s a lot more folks living at the expense of the economically productive class of people in this country called taxpayers."
Obviously the "mission" has expanded far beyond the protection of life, liberty and property and the lawful duties outlined in Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. How "critical" the government’s various missions are is certainly up for debate.
But it isn’t just the feds going on a “human capital“ shopping spree. State and local governments have also been gobbling up new workers, gaining a net 110,000 employees just since the start of the economic crisis, according to a report cited by the New York Times. Meanwhile, over seven million people employed in the wealth-producing private-sector have lost their jobs.
The projected new “mission-critical” federal hiring represents an increase of more than 40 percent over the previous three years. So what are all the “critical” federal jobs that need to be filled?
The highest demand — almost 55,000 — is for people in the medical and public health fields. Next in line are jobs for the government’s “security and protection” operations, supposedly requiring over 52,000 new employees, mostly “transportation security officers.”
The “compliance and enforcement” sector will “need” an estimated 31,276 new workers, while almost 25,000 legal jobs and 17,287 positions in administration and program management allegedly must be filled too. Other fields include engineering, biological science, IT and more.
The unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security — which has come under heavy criticism after the infamous right-wing extremism report and the revelation of the sources it was based on — has a record 65,730 projected openings, presumably to help track the right-wing extremists it considers the “most dangerous” threat to national security. The Department of Defense will be seeking more than 43,000 new hires.
The increasing number of returning injured soldiers that inevitably result from the proliferation of undeclared, and therefore unconstitutional, wars will all need expensive medical care — it is the least America can do for them after what the government has put them through. So, the Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to fill almost 50,000 positions, a 59 percent increase compared to the 2007 hiring survey.
Other agencies and departments that will be hiring heavily include the EPA, FDA, IRS and many more. The projections are based on a survey of 35 agencies representing 99 percent of the nearly 2 million-member federal workforce, a press release from the Partnership for Public Service stated.
The organization — which hopes to “revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve” — seems thrilled about the contents of its report. “For job-seekers motivated by a desire to make a difference and improve the lives of Americans, there are no better possibilities than those provided by our federal government,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “This report confirms that the job opportunities are there. People need to seize them.”
The press release goes on to note that federal jobs come with a wide array of benefits — goodies that private-sector employees can only dream of, especially in the current tough economic times. These include recruitment bonuses, scholarships for graduate school, student loan repayments of up to $10,000 per year and many others. Not mentioned are the extravagant pensions that are eventually going to cost taxpayers trillions of dollars more.
“[The federal government] has to win the war for talent in order to win the multiple wars it’s fighting for the American people,” Stier was quoted as saying in a Washington Post article misleadingly entitled "Federal Government Needs Massive Hiring Binge, Study Finds." Needs hardly seems like an appropriate word considering the fact that the federal government is already America’s largest employer, not including contractors and military personnel.
“There’s a war going on alright: it’s the federal government’s war against the productive men and women out there who have the fruits of their efforts gobbled up by that Leviathan on the Potomac,” countered Cato’s DeHaven. “The last thing the economy needs are the best and brightest this country has to offer wasting their abilities in some bureaucracy when they could be out starting businesses, creating new technologies, etc.”
Another Washington Post article noted that the federal government is planning to “fix” and “streamline” its hiring practices in anticipation of the wave of new hires. But that is not what is needed. The federal government should not be growing — “mission-critical” or not. It must be put back in its constitutional box where it lawfully belongs before it finishes totally bankrupting the nation, assuming it has not already succeeded in this respect.
Taking care of returning veterans is the one legitimate requirement right now, but future needs in the department could almost certainly be minimized by following a constitutional foreign policy and bringing home the American troops stationed all over the world. The Constitution defined three federal crimes — why does America need dozens of federal law enforcement agencies with so many new enforcers?
Government already devours about half of the nation’s gross domestic product, continuing to squeeze the productive economy more and more as time goes on. To borrow from Obama’s rhetoric, it is simply not sustainable.
It is past time for citizens to demand that their representatives adhere to their simple oaths of office. The need for lawful constitutional government is far more critical for America than hundreds of thousands of new federal employees could ever be.
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