Deadline arrives for federal layoff plans
Unknown how many employees will be let go
By: Sarah D. Wire
USA Today
..... Thursday [03/13/2025] was the deadline for federal agencies and departments to give the Trump administration their plans for large-scale layoffs, and the mass layoff notices came as the Republican-controlled Congress fought over funding the government to avoid a shutdown on Friday. [03/14/2025]
..... Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has retched up tariff threats against America's allies, including Canada and the European Union, and they have responded, in turn, with steep tarries. The back-and-forth has spared uncertainty among U.S. stocks - and fears of a recession.
..... In an effort led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of government Efficiency aides, more than 100,000 federal employees have already lost their jobs in the last tow months through layoffs of probationary employees, who are new to government work or recently moved between agencies or accepted a promotion.
..... About 75,000 other federal employees accepted the original buyout offer Trump extended shortly after he took office.
..... It remained unclear Thursday [03/13/2025] how many of the about 2 million fella employees across the new layoff plans, called a "reduction in force."
..... The memo ordering agencies to produce the reduction in force plans called for "a significant reduction."
.....
Agencies can whittle down personnel through layoffs, attrition, removal of underperformed employees or renegotiation of collective bargaining agreements.
..... The White House has declined to talk about when the public will see the plans due anytime Thursday [03/13/2025] to the Office of Personnel Management.
.....
However, the target number of layoffs for each agency and perhaps even location were expected to leak in the coming weeks as employees get word of them.
..... The layoffs did not have to occurs on Thursday. [03/13/2025]
there was no specific deadline by which agencies must deliver the news that targeted employees' jobs will end within 30 or 60 days.
..... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday [03/12/2025] that details of the terminations would be available after the deadline.
..... "This is a goal that every Cabinet secretary across the broad agree with,' Leavitt said. We have to make our bureaucracy more efficient. And then, when the March 13 [2025] deadline hits, we can talk about that then."
..... Some of these plans have already been put in motion. About half of Department of Education employees were laid off Wednesday. [03/12/2025]
..... That same day, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began notifying 1,068 civilian employees that they were eligible for a buyout.
..... Earlier in the week, [03/10/2025] USA Today also learned that the Department of Veterans affairs was laying off about 76,000 workers, accounting for about 16% of its workforce.
..... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is laying off more than 1,000 people or about 20% of its staff. Likewise, NAASA told employees Monday [03/10/2025] it would shutter three offices, including the office of the chief scientists.
..... Although Trump's efforts to downsize the government have focused largely on federal workers, it's worth noting that the size of the federal workforce hasn't substantially changed since the late 1960s, when their were about 2 million federal employees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics.
..... The government has consistently employed between 1.8 million and 2.4 million people over the past 60 years. Over the same period, the U.S. population grew nearly 40% form 203 million in 1970 to 331 million in 2020.
..... Federal employees work and live in all 50 states. Only about 15% live in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area.
..... Layoff of probationary employees have already resulted in protests around the country, including at national parks.