US government workforce drops to lowest level in 60 years after Trump purged hundreds of thousands of employees
The US federal workforce has plunged to about 2.7 million employees under the Trump administration — the lowest level in 60 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.The government has shed more than 300,000 workers since President Trump returned to office in January 2025, shrinking the federal workforce by about 11%, according to the latest analysis from the BLS.The majority of the cuts occurred in the first year of Trump’s second term, with federal employment remaining at a consistent level through 2026.
Active military personnel — which number about 1.35 million — and employees at America’s intelligence agencies — about 100,000 more employees — were not counted in the monthly assessment.The federal workforce surges during Census years — it hit 3.4 million in 2010 and nearly 3.2 million in 2020.But it previous hit a non-Census 30-year high of more than 3 million in January 2025, just as Trump was taking office.
Trump campaigned on a promise to shrink the federal government, with the president giving Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth, free reign to purge employee payrolls to find savings under his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).The cuts hit nearly every major federal agency, with the Departments of Education, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development.The Department of Homeland Security was a notable exception, with headcount barely changing since Trump took office and rolled out his anti-immigration policies.The biggest cuts occurred at the end of September 2025, when more than 150,000 federal employees accepted buyouts from the government, resulting in the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years.
Despite the downsizing, the government has yet to see any notable savings.The government spent close to $244 billion on federal salaries during Trump’s first year in office, 3% more than it did during the same period under former President Joe Biden, according to an analysis of daily spending figure...