About 154,000 federal workers took Trump administration's buyout offers, source says
Fired US State Department workers carrying their belongings as they leave the building in Washington, DC, on July 11, as part of the Trump administration's cost cutting.
WASHINGTON - Roughly 154,000 federal employees have taken buyouts offered by the Trump administration this year, part of a broader push to slim the federal workforce, a person familiar with the matter said on July 31.
The resignations, which amount to 6.7 per cent of the civilian federal workforce, are the result of
a programme first launched in January by billionaire Elon Musk, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, with an email titled 'Fork in the Road.'
Similar buyout offers were made in the following months at different agencies.
The number of employees taking buyouts, first reported by the Washington Post, was just above the 5.9 per cent attrition in the US government's civilian workforce in 2023, a figure compiled by the Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit that compiles statistics on federal staff.
The 154,000 does not include staff who were fired or opted into other programmes to slash the federal payrolls, such as an incentive programme to retire early.
'In normal times, a 6.7 per cent turnover rate would not be unusual for the federal government,' said Professor Don Moynihan, of the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy.
'But these are not normal times. Along with the firing of probationary employees and other large-scale reductions in force, the deferred resignation programme deeply cuts government capacity.'
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The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Office of Personnel Management, the federal human resources agency at the heart of Mr Trump's push to cut federal workers, confirmed the figure and described the programme as a cost saver.
'Ultimately, the... programme was not only legal, it provided over 150,000 civil servants a dignified and generous departure from the federal government,' the agency said.
Employees opted into the buyout programme amid plans from Mr Trump and Mr Musk to eliminate their jobs. In exchange for leaving, the administration agreed to pay the employees for several months after ceasing work, but all will be off federal payrolls by the end of the year, the person emphasised.
Days after the administration closed its initial buyout offer, the administration fired tens of thousands of employees who were new to their jobs. Cabinet secretaries have promised more cuts in the coming months. REUTERS
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