Nearly Two Dozen Of Largest Federal Agencies Shed Over 278,000 Workers In 2025

By Morgan Sweeney | The Center Square

(Worthy News) – As a result of a concerted effort by the second Trump administration to reduce the size of the civilian federal workforce, the total staff of 23 of the largest executive-branch agencies shrunk by roughly 3% in the first half of 2025, with 144,000 additional jobs cut by year’s end.

The numbers come from a newly released report from the Government Accountability Office, which was tasked with tracking staffing changes across 24 federal agencies in the first half of last year. One agency did not provide the requested data, so data from 23 agencies is included in the report.

The president issued several executive orders in the first few months of 2025 directing much of the executive branch to trim its workforce, as well as a memorandum that put a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees. (The memorandum did include exemptions for the military, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety positions.)

Despite several ongoing lawsuits challenging the reduction in force, altogether, the 23 agencies shrunk by a total of more than 134,000 employees, or about 6% of their total workforce from January through June of 2025. However, during that same time period, those agencies brought on nearly 66,000 new hires, or roughly 3%, for a total reduction of about 3%. As of June, according to the office, the federal government still employed more than 2.2 million people.

The office did not provide hiring data for the second half of 2025, but it noted that agencies reported that another 144,000 federal employees left by the end of the year through the deferred resignation program put in place by the Office of Personnel Management.

Of the more than 134,000 that left by June, the vast majority (77%) retired or resigned, according to the report. The program offered many federal employees the option of taking paid administrative leave if they agreed to resign by the end of September 2025 or retire by the end of the year. Another nearly 20% were terminated or removed, and “less than 1% were separated through a reduction in force during this period,” according to the report.

The Department of Education shed the greatest number of employees as a percentage of its workforce, not accounting for new hires, with 813 separations (terminations, resignations or retirements), or nearly 21%, occurring from January to June 2025. The U.S. Agency for International Development was next, losing 749 employees, or 16.6% of its staff, during that same time period. The Department of Commerce, the Office of Personnel Management, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Health and Human Services followed, with reductions from 11-16%.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense lost the least staff as a percent of their total workforce – the only two agencies that saw separations of less than 5%. Both hired half or nearly half of that during that time, to finish with 2.5-2.7% less employees total.

The Department of the Interior was the only agency that grew during the first half of 2025. It lost about 5.6% of its workforce through separations, or 3,808 people, but it hired nearly 11% back, concluding June with more than 68,500 employees.

The Department of Homeland Security came closest to regaining the workforce it lost, shedding over 11,400 employees but hiring over 10,200 during that same time period.

The Small Business Administration did not provide the requested data to the GAO, so its workforce data was not included in the report.

The director of the Office of Personnel Management said in November that approximately 317,000 people left the federal workforce last year.

Reuters reported in January that the federal workforce is the smallest it has been in “at least a decade”.

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