Fed Lost 40,000 Employees Last Year – Plus the 7 Gov Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• Faced with private sector competitors, what can the government do to compete in attracting younger workers? Is it money? Recognition? Autonomy? Without a singular solution, one idea seems viable: Activate employees; don’t treat them like baseball cards. We take a look.

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The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. Politico: Congress rewrites jobs training law- “After years of failed attempts, Congress today passed an update to a Clinton-era jobs training law that governs billions in federal spending aimed at helping workers stay afloat in the changing job market. It passed by a vote of 415-6 in the House, which took it up under suspension of the rules. The bill passed the Senate easily in June and is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama — a rare victory for a gridlocked Congress fast turning its attention away from lawmaking and toward the midterm elections.

2. Government Executive: The Federal Government Lost 40,000 More Employees Than It Gained Last Year- “Federal agencies hired nearly half the number of employees in fiscal 2013 as they did four years prior, and the gap between employees leaving and joining federal service continued to grow.”

3. Nextgov: Why it Costs $1.7 Billion to Computerize Immigration Forms- “The agency in charge of processing immigration forms has awarded a potentially $58 million contract to four vendors to computerize the casework, as the government strains to handle the nation’s 12 million undocumented foreigners. “

4. FCW: Senate panel slams canceled Air Force IT program- “About a year and half after the Air Force canceled its Expeditionary Combat Support System, a Senate panel has released a scathing report on the failed IT program. The ECSS, a software system for enterprise management, was a waste of $1.1 billion and the eight years spent on the project, the report concluded. The Air Force’s handling of the program revealed a “cultural resistance to change” within the service, the report said.”

5. NPR: Hackers In China Reportedly Targeted U.S. Federal Workers- “Chinese hackers successfully accessed U.S. government computer networks in March, hoping to find information about “tens of thousands of employees who have applied for top-secret security clearances,” The New York Times reports.”

6. FCW: Senate panel approves cyber information-sharing bill- “The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a bill that would protect firms from legal liability for sharing cyber threats with the government. The measure was approved 12-3 on July 8.”

7. Federal News Radio: Top Army brass defend troubled intelligence system- “When Gen. John Campbell, the Army’s vice chief of staff, appeared last year at a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, he cited his son’s experiences as a soldier in Afghanistan to answer a senator’s tough questions about a troubled intelligence technology system.”

DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder… yes, we’re trying to help you make your water-cooler time better too…

• More Americans than ever have cut the (telephone) cord, but the growth rate of wireless-only households slowed last year, according to new data from the National Center for Health Statistics. http://pewrsr.ch/1r5smpA