Federal workforce shrank 10% in Trump’s first year back in office
The federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025, losing nearly 238,000 workers. Among major agencies, the Education Department and USAID had the steepest cuts.
The federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025, or a net of nearly 238,000 workers, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of recently published government data.
A total of 348,219 people quit, retired, were laid off or otherwise left federal employment last year – an 80.8% increase from 2024. At the same time, 116,912 people started working for the federal government – a 55.6% decrease from the year before.
The job losses affected a broad swath of federal workers, with few noteworthy distinctions among people of different educational attainment, length of federal service and type of appointment (that is, the competitive civil service or otherwise).
However, the Trump administration’s job cuts disproportionately affected younger and less experienced federal workers.
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