Robert Budens, president of the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA), links attrition to being pushed to grind out junk:

Everyone except management believes that we need more time to do the job. Their rationale is that if we get more time, then the backlog will grow. I disagree. In the short term that's right, but in the long term it means that the retention level doesn't drop.

The problem is international. Patent examiner organizations in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria, and the European Patent Office urge their taskmasters to focus on real quality.

Patent offices worldwide continue to focus on their backlogs of applications and ways to increase examiner productivity. Unfortunately, in many patent offices, the pressures on examiners to produce and methods of allocating work have reduced the capacity of examiners to provide the quality of examination the peoples of the world deserve. Quality examination requires skilled, well-trained and motivated examiners, powerful and efficient search and examination tools and, most importantly, the time necessary for examiners to apply those skills, training and tools to the examination of patent applications. The pressure on productivity has greatly reduced the sense of job satisfaction of examiners, who feel unable to take the time to do the job justice. This has damaged the motivation of the examiners with concomitant impact on the operational effectiveness and the quality of output of Patent Offices.

Increase the quality of examination by providing patent examiners with more time to search and examine patent applications.

Essential reading: Peter Zura over at 271 Patent Blog further tackles the dissonance between patent examiners and the political appointees that pass as top-tier management.