Featured October 22, 2025 Half of Americans say the federal government shutdown is impacting their community Back to Blog Public servants twice over: Veterans in the federal workforce Date November 10, 2025 Authors Partnership for Public Service Tags Fed Figures, Workforce As the government shutdown drags on, one population stands to be uniquely impacted by the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce: military veterans. Some Department of Veterans Affairs services, such as briefings for service members transitioning out of the military and maintenance at national cemeteries, have been paused. Additionally, reduced staffing from workforce cuts and any resulting service slowdowns at the VA would impact veterans’ ability to access the health care, benefits and resources they need. Importantly, the federal workforce is also disproportionately composed of former service members, exposing the veteran community to significant risk of being directly affected by disruptions to the government. In fact, nearly 30% of all federal employees are military veterans. Veterans are employed across the government Veterans occupy positions across the entire federal government, not just in defense- and military-related agencies. While the Defense Department and the VA have the most veterans—employing more than 435,000 in total—this group is a critical component of every federal agency’s workforce. In addition, 34.6% of Department of Transportation employees are veterans, as are 27.9% and 26.5% of employees at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the General Services Administration, respectively. The federal government is the country’s most important employer of veterans Under the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944, veterans receive “veterans’ preference” in federal hiring. This long-standing practice, dating back to the Civil War, acknowledges veterans’ sacrifices and helps returning service members find stable employment. Veterans’ preference makes veterans more likely to be hired and less likely to be fired than their nonveteran counterparts. The federal government is the largest single employer of veterans in the country. In fact, the federal government by itself employs as many veterans as entire industries in the private sector. In 2023, 11.0% of all employed veterans worked for the federal government, comparable with the percentage employed in manufacturing jobs—11.7% of employed veterans—or in professional or business services—11.1% of employed veterans. Veterans with a service-connected disability are especially likely to be federal employees. In 2023, 19.0% of all employed veterans in this group worked for the federal government. The federal government employs veterans nationwide, not just in Washington, D.C. Most of the country’s federal employees—just over 80%—work outside the Washington, D.C., area, which includes Virginia and Maryland. For federally employed veterans, this figure is 83%. The federal government employs veterans in every state, particularly in high-population ones like Texas, California and Florida. Conclusion For practical and ethical reasons, it is critical to recognize the role that veterans play in the federal workforce. The federal workforce is a major source of employment for American service members—and a repository of nonpartisan technical and administrative expertise that ensures a continuity of government across administrations. The professional civil service is the engine of our government—and veterans help ensure it works. They—and the workforce as a whole—should be handled with care. Read more on how the government shutdown is impacting veterans VA benefits regional offices close amid shutdown, impacting veterans' services Nearly half of VA benefits employees working without pay during government shutdown Shutdown is ‘holding my veterans hostage,’ VA chief says ‘I can't afford food': Over 1 million veterans could lose SNAP benefits amid shutdown Ahead of Veterans Day, vets lack some services due to shutdown Citing shutdown, military won’t participate in NFL Veterans Day events Visit our Federal Harms Tracker: The Cost of the Shutdown to learn more about the ongoing harm caused by the shutdown. Originally published March 2025 by Meg Shelburne and updated November 2025. Unless otherwise noted, data in this analysis is for full-time, nonseasonal, permanent civilian employees of the executive branch as of September 2024. It does not include most employees of the legislative or judicial branches; the Intelligence Community; the U.S. Postal Service; foreign service officers; residents of other countries employed by State Department offices overseas; uniformed military personnel; or contractors working for the government. The word “veteran,” as used by the Office of Personnel Management, refers to former service members who qualify for veteran status under 38 U.S.C. 101. There may be former service members who do not meet the definition and who are thus not captured in the data. “Exempt” is an OPM classification that refers to certain employees of the Defense Department who are exempt from reporting on veteran status.
