Over 150,000 US federal workers to resign this week, largest exodus in history

The buyouts are a key part of President Donald Trump's push to shrink the federal workforce.

Over 150,000 federal employees will exit from the US government payroll this week after accepting buyouts, making it the single-largest resignation in history.

The Trump administration is likely to shed around 300,000 workers by the end of this year, (Bloomberg)

The official resignations will reportedly begin on Tuesday for employees who have opted into a deferred exit program that kept them on the government payroll through September.

The buyouts are a key part of President Donald Trump's push to shrink the federal workforce, with financial incentives and threats of dismissal to those who refused the offer, Reuters reported.

According to the federal government's human resources (HR) office, many workers left their agencies months ago and have been on paid leave since then.

These buyouts were part of Trump and his former adviser Elon Musk's broader push to reduce the federal workforce, arguing that it had become too big and inefficient.

The federal HR chief said last month that a combination of buyouts, firing and other incentives for employees to quit indicates that the Trump administration will likely lose around 300,000 workers by the end of this year. This would mean a 12.5 per cent decrease in the federal workforce since January 2025, when Trump returned to the Oval Office.

Impact of Buyouts

Don Moynihan, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said that this resignation's biggest impact will be the brain drain of several experienced federal employees. He said that such a loss of talent will be hard to reverse.

"It takes years to develop deep knowledge and expertise to deliver government programs these people run. Now much of the knowledge is walking out the door," Moynihan said.

According to interviews of a dozen current and former government workers, agencies are already facing difficulties in carrying out their work and serving the American public in the wake of their loss of expertise.

The buyouts have also impacted several government activities, including weather forecasting, food safety, health programs and space projects, Reuters reported.

Nearly 200 people took buyouts at the National Weather Service (NWS), causing a loss of many experienced meteorologists and technical workers, who maintain the forecasting equipment.

Jasmine Blackwell, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the weather services, reportedly said that jobs were being offered as the administration needed "to ensure both the safety of Americans and the responsible use of taxpayer dollars".

Meanwhile, at the Department of Agriculture's agricultural research service, around 1,200 workers, making up about 17 per cent of the agency's workforce, accepted the resignation offers.

Ethan Roberts, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3247, a union which represents ARS employees, said that one of those who took the resignation offer was a scientist specialising in the rapid detection of fungal toxins in grain elevators, which helps farmers and grain processors assess whether crops are contaminated.

Roberts said that without the scientist's specialised knowledge, there is no one to take the work forward. According to the World Health Organisation, contaminated grains can severely make people and livestock sick or even kill them.

A USDA spokesperson said that despite losing over 15,000 workers through this resignation programme, the agency will continue to maintain its critical functions.

The buyouts have also impacted health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

In March, the Human and Health Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, announced that the department would reduce 10,000 employees through a combination of firings and buyouts. Of these, 3,500 would be at the FDA and 2,400 at the CDC.

Matt Bigs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union representing 8,000 NASA employees, said that nearly 4,000 workers of the American space agency had taken the buyouts offered by the Trump administration in January and April.

"The agency is losing some of the most brilliant engineers and aeronautic scientists in the world, and they are not being replaced," Biggs said.

NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said that the space agency is pursuing a "golden age" of exploration and innovation, including to Mars and the Moon.

"The agency will continue to assess the types of skills and roles needed to meet our priorities," she added.

(with inputs from Reuters)