From IRS to EPA: Full breakdown of historic US government layoffs

President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk are undertaking a sweeping campaign to cut the size of the 2.3 million-strong civilian US government workforce. Nearly 200,000 employees have been fired or earmarked for termination or have accepted buyouts.

The layoffs have primarily been aimed at probationary workers, many in jobs for less than a year with fewer job protections than longer-tenured staffers.

A judge ruled in March that the terminations of some 25,000 probationary employees were likely illegal, forcing federal agencies to begin reinstating them.

Meanwhile, a new wave of cuts targeting career government workers has begun and is intensifying after Trump ordered federal agencies to submit plans for large-scale layoffs by March 13.

Here are details of some of the layoffs at federal departments and agencies gleaned by Reuters reporters.

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

Employees at the United States Institute of Peace received termination letters Friday evening, according to people familiar with the matter. The organization, an independent, nonprofit organization funded by Congress, employs about 300 people at its Washington headquarters.

The mass firing came less than two weeks after DOGE staffers gained access to USIP’s headquarters in Washington with the help of police officers, prompting the institute to accuse Musk’s team of occupying its building by force.

INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES

All employees of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency with about 75 workers which provides funding for America’s libraries and museums, were placed on administrative leave on Monday, according to a union statement.

The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 said in a statement that all employees were put on leave following “a brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership” and told to turn in all their government equipment.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

The US Department of Health and Human Services will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs and close half of its regional offices, it said on March 27, a major overhaul of the department under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Employees of various departmental agencies began receiving their termination notices on April 1.

The latest job cuts, and about 10,000 recent voluntary departures, will reduce the number of full-time employees at the department to 62,000 from 82,000, the department said.

VOICE OF AMERICA

More than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave on March 15, Michael Abramowitz, the U.S. government-funded outlet’s director, said in a post on LinkedIn.

The cuts were part of a gutting of the outlet’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which terminated its grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

VETERANS AFFAIRS

The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut more than 80,000 workers from the agency, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, sent the memo to senior agency officials, telling them the goal was to return the agency to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would mean cutting about 82,000 staff.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

The Pentagon has so far approved 21,000 applications from civilian employees to take the “Fork in the Road” buyout offer, a number set to rise. The Pentagon says it has also started a hiring freeze and aims to ultimately reduce its 950,000-strong civilian workforce by 5% to 8%.

USAID

The US Agency for International Development, which oversees the delivery of American humanitarian assistance, has said that all direct hires except essential workers will be put on leave and 1,600 USAID personnel in the US will be cut. It also plans to fire the more than 10,000 foreign nationals employed by USAID, as well as US diplomats and civil servants assigned to USAID missions abroad.

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

The tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service is planning to eliminate 20% to 25% of its workforce by May 15, according to a person briefed on the agency’s plans. The IRS had about 100,000 workers when Trump took office, meaning up to 25,000 will lose their jobs.

The target includes the roughly 5,000 IRS employees who took buyouts in February and potentially 7,000 probationary workers who were fired, though court rulings on March 13 could lead to reinstatement of probationary staff, the person said.

The planned job cuts are being described internally as the first phase of the agency’s efforts to reduce the number of career workers, the person briefed on the matter said, indicating there could be additional cuts after May 15.

CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency has fired a slew of recent hires, three people familiar with the matter said, cuts that current and former US intelligence officers warned would risk damaging U.S. national security. Reuters could not determine the exact number.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

At least 75 career Justice Department lawyers and FBI officials, who normally keep their roles from administration to administration, have either resigned, been fired or stripped of their posts in the first weeks of the Trump administration.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

About 2,300 workers were laid off from the Interior Department, sources said, including about 800 people from the Bureau of Land Management, which manages millions of federally owned acres for uses ranging from oil and gas development to timber harvesting, recreation and cultural preservation.

Overall, the department employs more than 70,000 people and oversees 500 million acres (202.3 million hectares) of public lands, including dozens of national parks.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

The USDA fired nearly 6,000 probationary workers in mid-February, including 3,400 at the Forest Service, a division of the agency that manages millions of acres of national forests and grasslands, equal to 10% of its workforce, people familiar with the plans said.

Others fired included workers at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which supports agricultural science and technology research, and the Economic Research Service, which produces reports and data on the farm economy, sources said.

The agency was ordered by federal courts in March to reinstate those probationary workers. On April 1, it offered employees a second round of financial incentives to leave the agency this month, according to an email seen by Reuters, as the agency finalizes its broader plan to lay off staff.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

The Trump administration has asked US missions worldwide to prepare for staff cuts as part of an overhaul of the U.S. diplomatic corps. Trump says he wants a workforce that will not dither in implementing his policies.

Some embassies had been asked to look into reducing both US staff as well as locally employed staff by 10% each. Already, dozens of contractors working at various State Department bureaus have been laid off.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

The Social Security Administration, the agency that provides benefits to tens of millions of older Americans and those with disabilities, plans to cut 7,000 workers, reducing its workforce by more than 12% to 50,000.

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that provides the U.S. government’s weather forecasts, is planning layoffs of 1,029 workers, its second round of cuts.

NOAA has already cut 1,300 employees through the mass firing of probationary workers and a voluntary buyout program.

In addition to everyday forecasting, NOAA – which houses the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and two tsunami warning centers – provides crucial information to help Americans survive weather emergencies.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

About 700 workers have been laid off at the Department of Energy, the agency said. Sources have told Reuters that as many as 2,000 workers have been informed they were being laid off and that managers were told to provide evidence for why some of those should be re-hired.

On February 14, sources said 325 workers had been sent notice that they had been laid off from the National Nuclear Security Administration, an Energy Department office that manages the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and secures dangerous nuclear materials around the world. But after a public uproar and a scramble by the administration to hire back some of these employees, fewer than 50 workers from the agency were ultimately purged, the Energy Department said.

Overall, the Energy Department has about 14,000 employees and 95,000 contractors.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

The Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces laws like the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has fired 388 probationary employees. The agency has also placed on leave nearly 200 employees who work on environmental justice programs. The White House has said the EPA plans to cut its spending by 65%.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

The FAA fired more than 300 employees out of its workforce of 45,000, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, as questions rise around air traffic safety amid a spate of recent plane accidents.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Trump on March 20 signed an executive order intended to essentially dismantle the Department of Education, making good on a campaign promise to shutter the agency, although Congress would need to approve that.

The order is designed to leave school policy almost entirely in the hands of states and local boards, a prospect that alarms liberal education advocates.

The department had already announced on March 11 that it will cut nearly half its staff. Those layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator charged with monitoring large national banks, told staff it was firing 76 probationary employees. In 2024, the OCC reported 3,630 full-time employees, according to its website.

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU

The independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces an uncertain future as the Trump administration battles against a court order blocking its efforts to dismantle the agency and directing officials to allow some work to resume. The CFPB is responsible for enforcing consumer protection laws in the conduct of banks, credit bureaus, mortgage originators, money transfer services and other companies in the financial sector.

Many of the roughly 200 officials fired in February have been offered reinstatement but the status of some major functions at the agency remains unclear.

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

Career employees at the General Services Administration have begun to receive termination notices and the GSA is expected to shutter many regional offices. On Friday, the GSA sent employees an email that both extended the application period for an early retirement program and reopened a deferred resignation plan that would pay them through September if they agreed to quit.

GSA leaders have told staff that total spending is expected to be cut across all programs by about 50%, according to an email seen by Reuters.

The independent agency, which manages the government’s real estate portfolio and oversees most government contracts, has more than 12,000 workers.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

OPM, which has led the charge on federal government firings, has laid off more than 200 of its own employees and allowed over 400 to opt in to voluntary exit programs since Trump took office, two people familiar with the matter said. One of the sources said another 90 people had opted into a program to incentivize early retirement.

NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration laid off 4% of its staff, a spokesperson said. Under former President Joe Biden, the agency grew by 30% and remains considerably larger after the cuts.

Its workforce was about 800 before the job cuts.

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

The Small Business Administration, the agency that provides loans and support to small businesses across the country, said on March 21 that it will eliminate about 2,700 jobs or roughly 40% of its overall staff.

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