From today’s New York Times:
The Trump administration shrank the federal work force by about 220,000 workers through November, representing about a 10 percent cut, according to new data that offers the first clear view of the president’s blitz to remake the government’s labor force. This decline, which also accounts for limited new hiring, has reversed the last decade of growth for America’s largest employer, returning the federal work force to roughly the size it was when President Trump took office the first time.
But the cuts went far deeper for some agencies and offices: They have had the effect of hollowing out decades-old functions of the federal government.
In many cases, the departures have whittled down agencies that hadn’t grown in years or benefited from the expansion of the federal work force over the last two decades. Most of that expansion has been driven by just one agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs. In other words, Mr. Trump’s cuts — some carried out haphazardly, then reversed — aren’t a simple rollback of recent government bloat, but a more fundamental change to what the government does.
“Reshaping the federal work force is essential to building a government that works for the American people, not the bureaucracy,” said Scott Kupor, the director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, in a statement. The broader effort, he added, “ensures taxpayer dollars support a work force that delivers efficient, responsive and high-quality services.”
Amid all the cuts, one agency has notably swelled: Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded by about 30 percent through November, and more new hires have been announced since as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its deportation campaign.
The new data published by O.P.M. does not identify which workers departed under the “fork in the road” buyouts promoted by Elon Musk, which offered workers months of paid leave through last September to induce them to quit. The departure numbers released this week also don’t include workers who were eligible to retire in December under the deferred resignations program. Full numbers for the program are expected to be released in February.
Read the complete story here.