Quality Assurance

What the Numbers Say About Quality Assurance

0.4% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Quality Assurance occupation (OPM code 1910): 9,581 people, headcount down -0.7% versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

Average tenure in Quality Assurance runs 14.3 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $101,657 per year, 7.5% below the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 1.9% from the prior period, a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement.

Code 19, the Quality Assurance, Inspection, and Grading Group family, is where the federal government classifies Quality Assurance alongside 2 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Quality Assurance postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Within the Quality Assurance, Inspection, and Grading Group family, Quality Assurance is the single largest occupation by headcount, accounting for 78.9% of the family's combined 12,141 employees. Its average salary ranks in the top half (67th percentile) of pay among Quality Assurance, Inspection, and Grading Group occupations.