The Trump administration will likely shed around 300,000 workers this year, its new human resources chief said on Thursday, which would amount to a 12.5% decrease in the federal workforce since January.
Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor said 80% of those workers would leave voluntarily and only 20% would be fired. It amounts to nearly a doubling of the 154,000 workers that Reuters reported had taken buyouts last month.
Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump launched a massive campaign to downsize the 2.4-million strong federal civilian workforce, which he says is bloated and inefficient.
“I cannot force people to lay people off,” Kupor said in an interview in Washington on Thursday. He said he would have to persuade cabinet secretaries to buy into his vision of government efficiency.
The comments contrast with the first few months of Trump’s second term, when OPM leadership explicitly directed agencies to dismiss employees new to their roles, according to a court filing.
If Kupor’s estimate is accurate, the number of employees leaving the federal workforce will be more than double the 5.9% attrition in the U.S. government’s civilian workforce in fiscal year 2023, the most recent measure of voluntary departures compiled by the non-profit Partnership for Public Service.
Kupor declined to share headcount statistics for individual government agencies. He said OPM will publish the figures later.
Agencies will submit proposals on future cuts to White House Budget Director Russ Vought as the president prepares his next budget request to Congress, Kupor said, adding that he met with the budget office on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing Alexandra Alper and Nia Williams)
