CNN
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Federal employees have to make an important decision this Thursday: it is the deadline to accept the deferred resignation offer of the Trump administration, which will allow them to leave their federal work and continue charging their salary until September.
The administration seeks that federal workers move on to the private sector for the next stage of their careers.
“We recommend that you look for a job in the private sector as soon as you want,” said the Personnel Management Office in a section of frequent questions about the offer. “The greatest American prosperity will be achieved by encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to jobs with greater productivity in the private sector.”
But there is an important factor that federal employees must take into account: it is not so easy to get work in the private sector today, according to economists.
“There have been very few hiring lately,” said Julia Pollak, an economist in Chief of Ziprecruiter. “Actually, at this time we have a rather static labor market without many opportunities for people to change jobs.”
The latest government data reaffirmed the relative stillness of the labor market. The number of available jobs fell more than expected in December, according to the survey on employment vacancies and labor rotation, which was published last Tuesday. The hiring remained low.
Meanwhile, unemployed are taking longer to get a new job: employment applicants can need about 10.4 weeks looking for work, compared to eight or nine weeks that they required in much of 2022 and 2023, he said Pollak And the proportion of long -term unemployed, who have been without work for at least six months, has also increased.
Undoubtedly, some federal workers will find it easier to find a position in the private sector, said Ron Hertick, a senior labor economist in Lightcast, a labor market data. Those with cybersecurity experience or with security authorizations, for example, will probably be hired quite quickly.
But those with administrative experience may have the transition more difficult.
“There is no active labor market for professional positions,” he said, and added that there is already a lot of competition for these works and the deferred resignation offer will probably add more people to the group of candidates.
More than 40,000 people decided to take advantage of the deferred resignation plan, a Trump administration official told CNN on Wednesday. Those who do not accept it are at risk of being fired, the OPM warned.
The offer is one of the various measures taken by the Trump administration to review and reduce the Federal Labor Force.
Federal employee unions have urged their members to reject the incentive, questioning their legality and the ability of the Trump administration to fulfill their promises. They point out that the federal government has financing only until mid -March, so the administration cannot offer to pay workers until September at this time.
On Tuesday, the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions filed a lawsuit at the United States District Court in Massachusetts requesting a temporary restriction order against the term of February 6. Thursday at 1:00 pm will be the audience on the case.
The order of President Donald Trump that federal workers return to the office full time can promote some of those who want to continue working remotely to consider the measure. But these types of positions are difficult to find in the private market, Hetrick said, since distance vacancies attract twice as appropriate applicants than face -to -face offers.
Another challenge is that federal employees are mostly older and, often, it is more difficult for them to find a new job, said Pollak. About 28% are 55 years or older, compared to just less than 24% of the workforce in general, according to Pew Research Center.
Even so, the Federal Work Force has some advantages. They tend to have a higher educational level and could be very attractive to employers who have contracts with the government, said Pollak.
In addition, the eight months of paid license that have been offered to federal officials could give them time to find a new position. They should use that time to expand their network and learn to promote themselves, Hetrick said.
“You can’t trust the labor market to improve, but it could happen,” he said.
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