Volcker Sees Flaws In Civil Service: Recruitment, Retention Studied
NEW YORK, Jan. 7ÛÓFederal agencies, particularly NASA, are having trouble recruiting and retaining good employees because of flaws in the civil service system, according to former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker.</br></br>The government needs to consider raising salaries for high-ranking civil servants and limiting the number of political appointees to federal agencies, Volcker said in an interview Wednesday.</br></br>Volcker, who stepped down from the Fed chairmanship last year, is investigating civil service issues as chairman of the blue-ribbon National Commission on the Public Service.</br></br>ÛÏNASA used to be a great place to work if you were a young physicist,Û Volcker said. But the first generation is leaving, and ÛÏthereÛªs no second generation of the same competence coming along." ' ÛÏI think they have a real problem of turnover and morale" at the National Aeronautics and åÇSpace Administration, Volcker said.</br></br>Volcker said his views were personal impressions that did not necessarily reflect the views of the commission or any investigation of NASA.