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Passage 9
The number of executive branch employees retiring this fiscal year, which ends next month, is on track to be nearly twice the total who retired in 2009, according to government figures. And the rate looks certain to _1_. In 2000, about 94,000 people age 60 and older worked for the government. Last year, the number was 262,000.
The wave of retirement is helping to bring down the size of the federal _2_ and—where funding is available—could afford agencies the chance to hire younger workers with _3_ skills. The retirement of clerks could clear the way for experts in cyber security and information technology.
But among those leaving are people with specific _4_ that cannot easily be replaced—for instance, nuclear physicists at the Energy Department and a large number of air traffic controllers who were hired three decades ago. And with most hiring on hold, the _5_ are already reshaping agencies that cannot replace most of the retirees or mentor and train new executives.
In some corners of government, the challenge is grim. By 2016， _6_. 42 percent of the Department of Housing and Urban Development workforce will be _7_ to retire. At the Small Business Administration, it’s 44 percent.
There is no _8_ retirement age for most civilian federal employees, but retiring is looking ever more attractive, employees say, with their salaries frozen for three years by Congress and public service _9_ by many politicians.
“It finally got to the point where I got completely _10_ said Richard Swensen, 60, who retired from the Agriculture Department last year after 38 years. “You get weary of work that doesn’t pay off.”
A) abolished B) payroll C) mandatory D) previously
E) crucial F) departures G) huddles H) eligible
I) disappointed J) criticized K) institutions L) accelerate
M) presumably N) prevalent O) expertise
