Back in the United States, a new survey has found the federal government is poised for a large hiring spree over the next four years. The Partnership for Public Service says federal agencies need to hire more than 270,000 so-called “mission critical” workers by 2012 to deal with a wave of expected retirements from baby-boom workers. Overall, the survey says the government will need to hire 600,000 new workers by the end of President Obama’s term.