Air Force To Eliminate Another 4,500 Jobs

The Air Force has finished drawing up its plans to draw down its civilian workforce in 2012. The service says it needs to eliminate another 4,500 jobs. But those cuts will be the last batch of reductions it will need to make this year. The Air Force hopes to make the reductions with a combination of buyouts and early retirement offerings and avoid involuntary reductions in force. Like the rest of the Defense Department, the Air Force is under orders to keep its civilian workforce at fiscal year 2010 levels. Applications for voluntary early retirement and voluntary early separation are due by Feb. 3.