ByREUTERS
Updated:

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 US 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.

Downsizing part of Trump's campaign to shrink federal civilian workforce

The downsizing is part of US 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 US government before Trump took office for the second time.

Supporters of terminated federal workers gather outside of the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC on February 28, 2025.
Supporters of terminated federal workers gather outside of the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC on February 28, 2025. (credit: BRYAN DOZIER/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Trump's Department of Government Efficiency oversaw the downsizing at the beginning of Trump's second term.

Kupor in a post on X on Monday said he and White House budget director Russ Vought are working to "institutionalize" DOGE's mission to reshape the federal workforce.

Reuters reported on Sunday that DOGE disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.