On Tuesday morning, the Trump administration announced that it has reduced the federal government employment. They also promised additional layoffs in their ongoing effort to reduce waste in government.
As of March 31, 2024, the United States employed 2,289,472 federal workers, a decrease from 2,313,216 on September 30, 2024, according to data given by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The slashing of over 23,000 jobs “reflects the administration’s early efforts to streamline government and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy,” according to a news statement from the Office of Personnel Management.
Declaring, “The American people deserve a government that is lean, efficient, and focused on core priorities,” Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell made a statement.
“This data marks the first measurable step toward President Trump’s vision of a disciplined, accountable federal workforce, and it’s only the beginning.”
In February, Trump signed an executive order directing DOGE to work with other federal agencies to implement significant reductions in federal government personnel.
The new data, according to OPM, shows that agencies averaged 23,000 new recruits per month from April 2024 to January 2025, but that number decreased to 7,385 per month once the hiring ban was completely imposed, a decrease of over 70%.
The government agency proudly announced that the changes had saved taxpayers “billions.”
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), “hundreds of thousands more workers” would be removed from the rolls in October 2025 as a result of increased employee departures under the Deferred Resignation Program, which was introduced to reduce the workforce.
According to OPM, the government is still paying tens of thousands of workers who are about to be fired because the administration is challenging court orders.
Critics argue that the Trump administration is slashing essential employment and have met with strong opposition from Democrats and several courts in their efforts to reduce the government workforce.
“It’s a judge that’s putting himself in the position of the President of the United States, who was elected by close to 80 million votes,” Trump remarked onboard Air Force One on a journey back to Washington in March, following a federal court’s blocking of one of his attempts to dismiss federal workers.
“Our nation is in grave peril because of that. I also think the Supreme Court will have to weigh in at some point.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released new guidelines last month with the intention of streamlining the process of firing government employees for major misbehavior by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles.
Important news itemsAccording to a research by Forever Digital in 2023, the bulk of government employees are not considered to be at-will employees under existing legislation. Instead, they may only be fired for reasons such as misbehavior, poor performance, medical incapacity, or reduction in force. Additionally, federal employees have extensive due process rights when terminated, making it difficult for agencies to dismiss an employee.