Cost to Your Government FEDERAL HARMS TRACKER The Cost to Your Government Jump to The Cost to Your Government Reductions by Month Reductions by Agency Interactive Timeline Methodology Federal Workforce Data The Cost of The Shutdown The Cost to Your Community Back to Overview One of the defining features of the Trump administration’s approach to governance, and the mission of the Department of Government Efficiency, has been the deliberate dismantling of the federal workforce. To help the public, the media and policymakers better understand the scale and impact of the Trump administration’s drastic changes to the federal government, the Partnership for Public Service has created the Federal Harms Tracker. The first product in this series, The Cost to Your Government, compiles announced and confirmed employee reductions across federal agencies on a monthly basis, sourced from official government documents and news reports, and links them to specific risks and harms for individuals and communities across the nation. To learn more about our approach, see our detailed methodology and FAQs below. Through firings, forced relocations and a “deferred resignation” program (DRP), the administration has initiated sweeping reductions to the civil service, often in a haphazard and chaotic manner. As of Nov. 18, 2025, our data indicates that over 211,000 civil servants have left the workforce. This new total includes the nearly 4,000 terminated through reductions-in-force initiated during the federal government shutdown. This campaign to weaken the federal civil service has targeted the very people who keep our government running and provide essential services that we all rely on every day. Of the roughly 2.3 million employees who make up the civilian workforce, more than 80% work outside the Washington, D.C., area, in every U.S. state and territory, and around the world. THE COST TO YOUR GOVERNMENT WORKFORCE REDUCTIONS BY MONTH Month Total Reductions 0 Reset chart Play animation Previous month Next month LAST UPDATED NOV. 18, 2025 Across the Cabinet agencies, the departments of Defense, Agriculture and the Treasury have seen the largest workforce reductions in terms of scale, each having seen more than 20,000 reductions since the beginning of the year. This rapid loss of institutional knowledge and operational capacity has already begun to affect how, and how well, the government functions. 10 AGENCIES WITH THE MOST WORKFORCE REDUCTIONS LAST UPDATED NOV. 18, 2025 To illustrate how these reductions have unfolded over time, we have organized the data into an interactive timeline below. Paired with stories of harm and risk, this offers a fuller picture of the scale and impact of the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce since coming to power in January. In particular, risk stories highlight the types of work, programs and expertise that are endangered by disruptions to and reductions in the federal workforce. Specific individuals shown are not necessarily affected by workforce reductions. If you have a harm or risk-related story that you would like to share with our team, please contact federalharms@ourpublicservice.org. Jump to date Filter by sector Harms What's at Risk METHODOLOGY The data in this analysis is sourced primarily from official agency documents and credible media reports. Our scope includes both involuntary and voluntary workforce reductions, but does not account for reinstatements, judicial reversals and employees placed solely on administrative leave. As a result, aggregated numbers presented in this analysis may differ from other sources. The data in this analysis is updated monthly and does not capture announcements or workforce actions in real time. Interim updates may occur when significant new reporting and data becomes available. To learn more, see our detailed methodology and FAQs below. Learn more To track workforce reductions across the federal government with open-source information, we first collect raw data from primary source documents (e.g., court filings and official agency announcements) and media reports. From there, we calculate aggregated counts by date and reduction mechanism at the parent agency and subcomponent levels as the data allows. When sources contain conflicting information, we default to the more conservative or more specific estimate. Our scope includes both voluntary separations (e.g., early retirements and separations through the deferred resignation program) and involuntary ones (e.g., reductions in force and probationary period firings), but excludes reinstatements, judicial reversals and employees placed solely on administrative leave. The data in this analysis is updated monthly and does not capture announcements or workforce actions in real time. Interim updates may occur when significant new reporting and data becomes available. If you are aware of announced or confirmed separations that are missing from this analysis, please contact federalharms@dev.ourpublicservice.org. Do you account for court-ordered reinstatements or reversed separations? No. Incorporating court rulings and reinstatements into the aggregation process would introduce significant complexity and inconsistency. While this means our data may not always reflect the exact number of federal employees separated at a given time, we believe this is the most effective way to track reductions over a longer period. Are employees on administrative leave included in the data? Employees on administrative leave are not included unless their separation from federal service has been confirmed by a primary or secondary source. To avoid double counting, we exclude employees who are reported to only be on administrative leave. However, individuals approved for the Deferred Resignation Program and placed on administrative leave are counted as separated as of their DRP approval date. How are the different reduction mechanisms defined? Probationary Period Terminations: Termination of employees who are within their first several years in a position. Reduction-in-Force (RIF): Official process for agency reductions defined by federal regulations. Deferred Resignation Program (DRP): A reduction program under which employees agree to resign at a future date, often while placed on administrative leave. Voluntary Separations – VSIP: Employees who resign or retire voluntarily in exchange for a buyout incentive under the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment authority. Voluntary Separations – VERA: Early retirements authorized under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, allowing eligible employees to retire before standard age and service requirements. Unknown Mechanism – Voluntary Separations: Confirmed voluntary departures where the specific reason for the separation is not publicly identified. Unknown Mechanism – Terminations: Confirmed involuntary reductions where the cause or process is not specified or verifiable. Other: Reductions that rely on a combination of voluntary and involuntary mechanisms. Why do you include voluntary reductions as a part of your counts? We interpret resignations that coincide with a broader workforce reduction as individuals electing to leave their organization before being involuntarily separated and consider them to be important data points when assessing the overall scale of a reduction. Why does the granularity of separations reported vary? When we identify separations within a subcomponent and can reliably distinguish them from those of their parent agency, we include that data in the analysis. If that level of detail is unavailable from primary or secondary sources, or risks double counting, we report separations only at the parent agency level. Do you track which reductions are linked to specific laws or executive actions? No. We do not attempt to tie reductions to individual legislative or executive actions. Because workforce changes often result from a combination of factors, such as budget cuts, shifting priorities or agency directives, it is not possible to consistently attribute reductions to a single cause. What does it mean for a story to be included in the “What’s at Risk” section? These stories highlight examples of the types of work, programs and expertise that are at risk from disruptions to and reductions in the federal workforce. Specific individuals shown are not necessarily affected by workforce reductions. Stories reflect several years of Service to America Medals® honorees, and individuals may no longer work in specific agencies or the federal government. Stay up to date with the Partnership Subscribe to our emails to receive our latest news and updates.
