Does the federal service face more serious problems in recruiting, motivating, and retaining high-quality information technology (IT) professionals and administrators (PAs) than it does other PAs? Using a 1% sample of federal personnel records for 1976-2003, we compare the turnover rates, qualifications, and performance ratings of federal IT and other PAs and examine the flexibility of the federal service to raise IT pay in a tight labor market. Federal IT workers do not have ideal qualifications; however, their performance ratings are as high and their turnover rates are as low as other PAs, perhaps because the federal service hires IT PAs at higher grade levels, promotes them faster, and pays them more than other comparably educated and experienced PAs.
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