Working for the government used to elicit groans of expectant dullness, but times have changed. Instead of criticizing working for the ultimate Man, Uncle Sam, more people are drawn to the secure nature of working for the federal government. According to a new report from the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, the federal government will have hired 273,000 new workers by Fall of 2012 for jobs the group calls "mission critical" — that's a 41 percent hiring increase over the three previous fiscal years.

Partnership gathered hiring projections from 35 of the largest federal agencies and used the information to determine the 10 categories that will have the highest job growth. You can search job listings on the government's official job website, and see the 10 areas expected to undergo the most growth in the next three years when you read more.

1. Medical and public health: 54,000 new jobs by 2012.
2. Security and protection: 52,000 jobs
3. Compliance and enforcement: 31,280 jobs
4. Legal: 23,600 jobs
5. Administration and program management: 17,300 jobs
6. Accounting and budget: 16,640 jobs
7. Information technology: 11,500 jobs
8. Business and Industry: 10,770 jobs
9. Engineering: 10,640 jobs
10. Transportation: 10,560 jobs