Federal workforce cut by 10%

The federal civilian workforce fell 10.3% in 2025 — about a 238,000‑person net decline — driven by a surge in separations (348,219) and a sharp drop in new hires (116,912). Younger workers and those with under two years' service were disproportionately affected, and the Office of Personnel Management no longer publishes demographic breakdowns that would make the shift easier to analyze. — Large, rapid federal hiring and retention shifts reshape state capacity, service delivery, and the pipeline of career civil servants, and raise questions about politicized personnel policy and transparency.