Trump administration lays off thousands of federal employees amid government shutdown
More than 4,000 US federal workers were sent layoff notices last week, according to court documents filed by the Trump administration, which is using the government shutdown to continue reductions in force.
In addition, an estimated 900,000 government employees have been furloughed, while another 750,000 are working without pay.
The shutdown began on 1 October after existing budget allocations expired, and there was no agreement between Republican and Democrat politicians to renew the funding, with disputes over federal spending levels, foreign aid cuts, and health insurance subsidies. Many government services have been suspended until an agreement is reached.
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said in a post on X on 10 October: “The RIFs have begun”, referring to reductions in force. It was confirmed the same day that 4,200 people at seven agencies had received layoff notices.
According to Government Executive, an OMB spokesperson said layoffs would be “substantial”.
The agencies impacted to date are the Treasury, the Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Homeland Security, and Commerce departments, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Under a provision Trump signed into law in his first term, the employees who are working without pay are guaranteed back pay – though the administration has since threatened to circumvent that statute.
Shutdown an ‘opportunity’ for reductions in force
This marks the first time federal workers have been laid off during a shutdown. In previous shutdowns – of which there have been seven since 1990 – staff have been furloughed or required to work without pay temporarily. The last government shutdown occurred between December 2018 and January 2019, during president Donald Trump’s first term, and was the longest in US history at 34 days.
While the White House said the current shutdown had created an “unenviable choice” of determining where permanent layoffs should occur, Trump has described the situation as an “opportunity”.
A memo sent by the OMB on 24 September as a possible shutdown loomed, said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programmes whose funding would lapse in the event of a shutdown and which were “not consistent with the President’s priorities”.
According to the memo, agencies have been asked to revise their RIF plans once the shutdown ends “as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions”.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is suing the government over the layoffs, which have also been criticised by some politicians of both parties.
Read more: Trump administration puts USAID staff on leave as DOGE sets out spending cuts
Hundreds of thousands of civil servants have left government since January
The latest round of cuts continue Trump’s efforts to reduce the government workforce since he returned to office for a second term in January. Much of this work has been led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was headed by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk until he stepped down in May.
DOGE was created with the aim to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”, Trump said in a statement.
The Partnership for Public Service, a bipartisan organisation whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of the federal government, estimated that 200,000 civil servants had left government as of 23 September.
This includes firings and people who have left voluntarily through the government’s deferred resignation programme. Under the programme launched in January, the Office of Personnel Management asked staff to decide by 6 February whether they wanted to leave government and receive eight months’ salary as a severance package.
The programme was paused later that month, and reopened by some agencies in April.
Read more: US federal government departments reopen deferred resignation programmes
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About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
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