{"id":26445,"date":"2026-08-03T20:12:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26445"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:12:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:12:37","slug":"federal-workers-sour-on-government-work-decrying-eroding-job-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26445","title":{"rendered":"Federal workers sour on government work, decrying eroding job security"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>Nearly two-thirds of U.S. federal workers said they wouldn&#8217;t enter public service again, citing eroding job security and benefits, according to a recent poll of active and retired government employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Respondents&#8217; views overwhelmingly reflected concerns about the current federal climate, rather than regret over having chosen careers in government, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) found in a July survey.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has made sweeping cuts to the federal workforce by eliminating jobs and weakening civil service protections. In 2025, the White House announced a number of executive orders to slash government jobs, including a hiring freeze on civilian workers and directives to federal agencies to reduce their rolls.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>President Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2025\/02\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-works-to-remake-americas-federal-workforce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>\u00a0there are too many federal workers, pushing to reduce the size and scope of government while making agencies more efficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>&#8220;The worst times in my career&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Workers&#8217; perceptions of public-sector careers also reflect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/government-shutdown-military-missed-paycheck\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">struggles many of them faced<\/a> during a 43-day-long impasse in late 2025 \u2014 the longest government shutdown in modern U.S. history. Workers deemed essential, such as air traffic controllers, were required to work without pay, while others<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/government-shutdown-federal-workers-missing-paycheck-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\"> were furloughed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I probably served the American people for more than 20 years. The first few months of this administration were the worst times in my career,&#8221; one government worker told NARFE, according to the group, which advocates for pay and benefits protections for federal workers and retirees. &#8220;The work environment was outright hostile, confusing and under-resourced. (No toilet paper or hand soap).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No respect, no protections, poor treatment,&#8221; another survey respondent said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For many people, the draw of working for the federal government is serving a mission they support on a nonpartisan, professional basis,&#8221; John Hatton, vice president of policy and programs at NARFE, told CBS News. &#8220;It&#8217;s separated from the political system, to a large degree. But we&#8217;re seeing a real erosion of nonpartisan, professional service.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Enticing people to work in government may require new incentives, including higher pay, Hatton added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you can&#8217;t get skilled people who have professional experience and meet the standards of the job because the culture of the organization is changing, that&#8217;s going to be detrimental for the provision of services to the American people,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<h2>A harder sell<\/h2>\n<p>According to a 2024 Congressional Budget Office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/60235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a>, federal workers with a bachelor&#8217;s degree, comprising about one-third of the federal workforce, earned roughly 10% less than comparable workers in the private sector. Civil servants with a professional degree or doctorate earned almost 30% less than their counterparts in the private sector, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If lower-paying government jobs no longer promise job security, they become less appealing than private-sector alternatives and could hamper recruiting efforts, Hatton said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Typically, people saw these jobs as not offering the same prospect of monetary reward as you got in the private sector, but you get security, you support a mission, and that balance for job candidates is starting to fall apart,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So you&#8217;re going to have to create some other incentive to bring them into the workforce.&#8221;<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<p class=\"content__meta--editors\">\n      Edited by<\/p>\n<p>                                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/alain-sherter\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Alain  Sherter<\/a>\n                      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n        <\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly two-thirds of U.S. federal workers said they wouldn&#8217;t enter public service again, citing eroding job security and benefits, according to a recent poll of active and retired government employees.\u00a0 Respondents&#8217; views overwhelmingly reflected concerns about the current federal climate, rather than regret over having chosen careers in government, the National Active and Retired Federal&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/02\/532cb4ae-1460-4144-8fe0-0c34b653bf7a\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/e49a2fd0906aebce39ef217638219e59\/gettyimages-1092313384.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}