US government to shed 300,000 workers this year, Trump's HR chief forecasts

Source: Yahoo! News/Reuters

Thu, August 14, 2025 at 3:53 PM EDT


WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will likely shed around 300,000 workers this year, its new human resources chief said on Thursday, which would amount to a 12.5% decrease in the federal workforce since January.

Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor said 80% of those workers would leave voluntarily and only 20% would be fired. It amounts to nearly a doubling of the 154,000 workers that Reuters reported had taken buyouts last month.

Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump launched a massive campaign to downsize the 2.4-million strong federal civilian workforce, which he says is bloated and inefficient.

"I cannot force people to lay people off,” Kupor said in an interview in Washington on Thursday. He said he would have to persuade cabinet secretaries to buy into his vision of government efficiency. The comments contrast with the first few months of Trump’s second term, when OPM leadership explicitly directed agencies to dismiss employees new to their roles, according to a court filing.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/us-government-shed-300-000-195331174.html