According to a report from the General Accountability Office, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) needs to implement plans now to address workforce vacancies to support its goal of overseeing national security.
In short, GAO said in order to fulfill its missions and goals, MARAD should create a strategic workforce plan to address workforce skill gaps. In addition to national security missions, MARAD oversees U.S. shipping, as well as port and vessel operations with about 800 employees, the report said. However, the agency is facing staff turnover, high numbers of employees eligible to retire and vacancies in the coming years.
“Renewed interest in revitalizing America’s maritime industrial base has driven interest in the sufficiency of the workforce MARAD,” the GAO’s report said. “As of September 2024, MARAD had a 12.3 percent vacancy rate—116 vacancies out of 941 authorized full-time positions. In addition, MARAD separated 235 more employees than it hired over the last 10 years. According to MARAD officials, these vacancies have made it increasingly difficult for the staff to accomplish their mission.”
The report said the number of retirement-eligible staff is expected to increase from 24 percent in 2024 to 43 percent by 2029. Given the agency’s challenges, the report recommended the agency use hiring flexibilities to hire qualified candidates, begin employee engagement efforts and develop a recruitment and outreach plan.
Officials said MARAD hired a contractor to develop a strategic workforce plan in July 2024, and that the plan is expected to be completed in September 2025. But the GAO’s report also found that MARAD has not fully implemented key strategic workforce planning principles into its coming strategic workforce plan.
After reviewing policies, procedures and documents, the GAO made four recommendations: having the MARAD administrator ensure managers, employees and stakeholder are involved in developing the forthcoming strategic workforce plan; having the administrator assess critical skills needed to achieve MARAD’s future goals and develop a strategy to address any skill gaps; build the capability to support workforce strategies; and develop a process to monitor and evaluate progress toward workforce goals.