Figure 6: Illustration of Principles for Evaluating Contribution to
Strategic Results: SSA's Evaluation of Retirement-Related Strategies:

SSA is using the results of several studies of retirement trends in
the agency to focus its voluntary retirement program. As we discussed
in our February 2000 testimony, SSA conducted a study that predicted
staff retirements and attrition by year from 1999 through 2020, as
well as by major job position and agency component.[A] Its study
showed that two factors would converge by the end of the decade: an
expected increase in demand for services as baby boomers reach
retirement age and the imminent retirement of a large part of the
agency’s workforce. For example, the study projected that nearly 70
percent of managers would be eligible to retire by 2010, with the
majority retiring during the peak years of 2007 through 2009. During
these peak retirement years, SSA expected to lose about 3,000
employees per year, which would be more than double the average
retirement rate from the previous decade. SSA officials believed that
if the retirement wave were left to run its course unabated, the
agency would be faced with an institutional knowledge gap coupled with
an increased demand to recruit and train new employees that would be
difficult and expensive to meet.