OPM Reports 317,000 Fed Departures in 2025, DoD Largest Drop in Number

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released figures on the number of federal employees who left federal employment in 2025, a year of tremendous upheaval for the federal workforce. 

According to OPM, approximately 317,000 employees left the federal government in 2025. OPM Director Scott Kupor said 92 percent of the departures were voluntary, with the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) accounting for approximately 154,000 voluntary resignations.

OPM also said that 68,000 employees were hired during the year. OPM credited the hiring freeze instituted by President Trump for ensuring that "government resources are focused on core statutory responsibilities and administration priorities, not bureaucratic expansion.”

Agency Numbers 

The largest workforce reductions by raw numbers occurred at the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of the Treasury.

• DoD lost more than 61,600 employees, representing about eight percent of its total workforce.

• Treasury shed approximately 31,600 employees, a decline of 28 percent, with a significant share of losses concentrated at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

• USDA lost roughly 21,600 employees, reducing its workforce by about 22 percent.

Other agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Education, experienced even steeper cuts relative to their size. The Trump Administration has sought to reduce these agencies to what it describes as the minimum staffing levels required by law. 

Critics Strike Back

Critics dispute that 92 percent of the departures were voluntary with the Partnership for Public Service saying that the departures amounted to a “forced exodus” that will hurt mission delivery.  

“This loss of expertise directly harms Americans’ access to critical services and will take decades to repair,” Partnership President Max Stier told Federal News Network.

Besides the staffing cuts, OPM also applauded other workforce changes that occurred in 2025, as the Trump Administration attempts to implement its agenda.

Those include modernizing hiring practices to restore merit and fairness in hiring, implementing the return to office mandate, strengthening performance standards, and implementing a comprehensive elimination of “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programs across government.