Tracking DOGE Efforts to Shrink the Size of the Federal Workforce: February 2025 Update
February was a busy month for DOGE federal workforce efforts. This is the first Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report to capture at least some of these changes since the new administration issued Executive Order (EO) 14210 on “Reforming the Federal Workforce to Better Serve Americans.”
One noteworthy article recently published by Veronique de Rugy at Reason makes an excellent point about DOGE efforts needing a philosophical foundation, the importance of how cuts are made, and why this matters from a principled limited government perspective:
“Cutting wasteful programs, eliminating unnecessary agencies, and reducing bureaucratic overreach are causes classical liberals and libertarians should champion. We also care, however, about the rule of law, the process under which the cutting and eliminating takes place, and who does the cutting. If shrinking the scope of the administrative state is done via an expansion of executive power and/or in violation of legal and constitutional rules, that's a problem.”
Before digging into the numbers, it is important to recognize that the BLS Current Employment Statistics report does not cover data all the way up to the end of the month. Instead, it is based on data collected during the reference week, which is typically the week that includes the 12th day of the month. For example, the latest report (February) primarily reflects employment data from the week of February 9–15, 2025. Any job changes that occur after that week—such as layoffs—will not be captured in that report but may appear in subsequent revisions or the next month’s report.
As of February 2025, there were just over three million federal government workers, excluding active military personnel. However, 601,000 of those workers were Postal Service employees. Excluding Postal Service workers, there were 2.406 million federal government workers. This is a decline of just 6,700 from last month (although last month’s numbers were revised down by about 7,000).
Perhaps the largest effort in reducing the federal workforce stems from the President’s Deferred Resignation Program initiated on January 28. This program offered federal employees the option to resign, while continuing to receive pay and benefits until September 30, 2025. The program officially closed on February 12, and as of February 13 about 75,000 federal employees had accepted the offer. As these workers are still receiving pay and benefits through September, they would likely still be classified as employed under BLS guidelines until their resignation takes effect.
On February 6 about 9,700 workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were placed on administrative leave. Many of these workers may also not show up in employment report data as employees on administrative leave are not counted as unemployed unless their roles are officially terminated.
Following directives from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the White House in mid-February, agencies and departments were tasked with terminating probationary employees, typically those with less than one or two years of service.
Probationary terminations included:
5,400 DOD employees, 2,400 VA employees, up to 2,000 DOE employees, 1,000 NPS employees, 880 NOAA employees, 700 HHS employees, and about 400 DHS employees.
Probationary terminations also included roughly 5,600 USDA employees. However, an independent federal board issued a stay ordering USDA to return the terminated workers to their jobs for 45 days while an investigation is conducted. It is also worth noting that many of these probationary terminations might not show up in February jobs data but should show up in later reports or subsequent revisions.
What’s more, the OMB sent a memo to all heads of executive departments and agencies on February 26 asking them to promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force. Agencies have been asked to submit workforce reduction plans no later than March 13, 2025.
Earlier this week a leaked memo from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek set a goal to return VA staffing to 2019 levels of 399,957. This goal would require terminating the roles of at least 76,000 federal workers from the VA.
While many of the actions to shrink the federal workforce may not show up in the data until next month’s (March) jobs report, the effects of larger initiatives such as the Deferred Resignation Program likely won’t be known until Fall (as payrolls for these jobs continue through September 30).
Can DOGE Efforts Match the Clinton Administration’s Achievements in Shrinking the Federal Workforce?
If the Trump administration is serious about meaningfully reducing the size of the federal workforce, then it should aim to reduce the number of federal employees at least by the same amount that the Clinton administration did in the four years between 1993 and 1997. This goal would require shrinking the federal workforce to fewer than 2.08 million workers by 2028, as I show in the tracker chart below.
To monitor the progress of DOGE's federal workforce reduction efforts, I will update this tracker series monthly. This series of posts will include tracking workforce reductions, agency restructuring efforts, and any new policies or developments related to these initiatives. Stay tuned for regular updates on the Trump administration’s progress toward achieving its workforce reduction goals.