This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2025)
More than 275,000 United States federal civil service layoffs have been announced by the second Trump administration.[1][2] As of May 12, 2025[update], the New York Times tracked more than 58,000 confirmed cuts, more than 76,000 employee buyouts, and more than 149,000 other planned reductions; cuts total 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers.[3] As of April 28, 2025[update], CNN has tracked at least 121,361 workers laid off or targeted for layoffs.[4] In limited cases, the administration has rescinded layoff notifications.[5]
The administration's efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce have been facilitated by the Department of Government Efficiency, and taken place in overlapping stages, including: a January executive order to remove due process employment protections from civil servants;[6][7] a January "deferred-resignation" deal;[8][9] the unilateral closing of several agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[10] The longest-running stage began on the first day of President Donald Trump's second term in office: an effort to terminate tens of thousands of "probationary employees"—generally, workers hired, transferred, or promoted within the past year,[11] and inciting a protest on President's Day.[12] A much greater number of federal workers are slated to be dismissed in a series of agency reductions in force (RIF).[13] On February 26, agency leaders were ordered to submit plans for these RIFs by March 14.[14][15]
The mass layoffs have garnered a response, and have been met by lawsuits. The Trump administration has called this an effort to reduce federal government expenditures, reduce the ability of the federal government to regulate business, and reduce the role of the federal government in U.S. society.[16] Opponents of the effort say it is a hasty, ill-conceived effort that is reducing crucial and beneficial services, violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988,[17] and increasing the power of the presidency.