Nearly 273,000 “mission-critical” federal employment opportunities will be available from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2012 according to the Partnership for Public Service.

The Partnership’s report Where the Jobs Are, identifies the top areas where the federal government will be hiring, including 54,114 projected positions in the medical and public health fields; 52,077 positions in security and protection; 31,276 in compliance and enforcement; 23,596 in legal occupations; and 17,287 in administration and program management.

Designed to help a broad audience of job seekers, policy makers and agency leaders, the report says the jobs involve numerous disciplines, are at locations throughout the country and overseas, and have been described by the federal agencies as essential to carrying out their service to the American people. The job survey, conducted with support from Aon and Monster Government Solutions, covers 35 federal agencies employing at least 1,000 full-time, regular workers.