OPM's Progress on the Retirement Claims Backlog in One Chart

Slowly but surely the inventory is shrinking, despite a hiccup earlier this year.

The Office of Personnel Management has taken a lot of heat in recent months for its inability to reduce its retirement claims backlog.

Lawmakers have demanded more transparency and OPM Director Katherine Archuleta has promised to do better.

Claims processing is trending positively, however, despite a bit of a blip at the beginning of this year. The following chart shows OPM’s progress since July 2012: