Every department has unfilled positions, lots of them. Government tends to overhire by 30% or better.
“Government tends to overhire by 30% or better.”
Sounds low to me, I think government overhires by at least two to one. Of course that is assuming that the task to be done is worth doing. Much of what the feds do is counterproductive to begin with so the optimum would be for them to hire no one in many departments. How can you say what the overhire factor really is when the whole department could best serve the nation by being eliminated.
As my boss once told me in the private sector, when I asked about vacant positions, “as of today, you are fully manned”. Government has so much waste AND overmanned departments that 3,000 is hardly noticeable.