Federal Workers Kept Clicking on Tech Jobs Months After Shutdown

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government’s longest shutdown to date ended a year ago, but the memory may have kept lingering in the minds of federal workers looking for greener pastures in the technology world.

A report released Tuesday by recruiting website Indeed compared clicks by federal employees on private tech jobs against clicks by users not on the federal payroll.

That comparison found federal employees’ clicks on such jobs were up on average almost 11% in the first 11 months of 2019 compared with 2017. Clicks from the general public fell 7.8% in the same period.

The gap is more dramatic between tech workers in the government and private sector. Clicks by federal tech employees on those private-sector jobs were up 6.1% from January 2017 as of November, while clicks from private-sector tech employees fell 21% in the same period.

Potential explanations for the divide included advantages for private-sector jobs like higher salaries and the ability to work remotely. Certain tech companies pay an almost 50% premium compared to the federal government, Indeed said.

“For the federal government, attracting and retaining talent appears to be a growing challenge,” the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Max Reyes in New York at mreyes125@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro

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