Washington, D.C. This year, the federal government is expected to lay off over 300,000 employees.
According to Scott Kupor, head of the Office of Personnel Management, 20% of those workers would be let go and 80% would depart of their own volition. Kupor gave Reuters the numbers on Thursday. Since January, the government workforce has shrunk by 12.5%.
According to a 2024 Pew Research survey, the U.S. government employs over 2.4 million federal workers, excluding the military (roughly 1.3 million active-duty military personnel) and the U.S. Postal Service (roughly 600,000 employees). According to that study, 1.87% of all civilian workers were employed by the federal government. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that postal workers are included in that percentage.
When President Donald Trump took office for his second term, he promised the American people a more efficient administration. Initially, the initiative was spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Since leaving DOGE, Musk and the president have been embroiled in a public spat.
Trump claimed that DOGE will be the government’s version of the Manhattan Project in terms of cost-cutting. After DOGE tackled government waste, lowered restrictions, and cut the federal workforce, Trump and Musk both pledged that Americans would receive a more effective government.
Musk eventually halved the $2 trillion he had originally stated DOGE would try to cut from the government budget. Musk stated during a Cabinet meeting in April that DOGE was on track to reduce the federal budget by $150 billion.
