US government to shed 317,000 workers this year, Trump's HR chief says

By Courtney Rozen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration will shed about 317,000 employees this year, its human resources chief said, a higher figure than previously estimated.

Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, also said in a statement that the U.S. government hired 68,000 workers in 2025.

Both figures are larger than the estimates Kupor gave earlier this year in interviews with Reuters, at 300,000 for employees leaving and 50,000 for new hires.

The downsizing is part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to shrink the federal civilian workforce, which he says is bloated and inefficient. 2.4 million employees worked for the U.S. government before Trump took office for the second time.

Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency oversaw the downsizing