This year has been tough for many who work for the government as President Donald Trump kept his pledge to shrink the federal workforce.
Just before Election Day 2024, the federal workforce employed more than 2.3 million people. By the start of this month, the federal government had shed almost 213,000 jobs, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
There isn’t good data on how many of those employees lived and worked in the DMV, but the D.C. area is home to 15% of federal workers.
The first sign of large-scale layoffs came in February, when almost 25,000 probationary employees with little job protection were sent packing. That was the first of many Trump-administration reductions to be challenged and at least temporarily halted in court.
Many of those fights continue.
The losses peaked in July and August as the federal government offered deferred retirement packages. The Partnership for Public Service says there were almost 68,000 reductions in July and 56,000 in August.
The federal government hasn’t been good sharing department-level reductions as they’re happening, despite the Office of Personnel Management’s promises a new system is coming. By the time the data is out, it’s months old.
The Partnership for Public Service says the Department of Defense lost the most people – 61,633 civilians – but it was the largest to begin with.
The Department of Education was one of the smallest, and according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the 1,300 layoffs and reductions there cut the department by more than half.
Many retirees now are stuck in an overburdened federal retirement system. Despite pledging to get retirees their benefits within 60 days of receiving their information, OPM now says it has a 66-day wait and more than 48,000 retiree accounts backlogged.
That’s just what’s known about federal workers’ employment. Contractors and global aid workers also have been affected.
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