Chaos as scientists, teachers, other US federal workers face mass layoffs

Donald Trump. (Photo/AFP)

Workers across the US have responded with anger and confusion as they grappled with the Trump administration's aggressive effort to shrink the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections.

While much of the administration's attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was affecting a far wider range of workers.

As layoff notices began to go out, agency by agency, this week, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling after being told that their services were no longer required.

Many of those affected say they had already accepted the administration's deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until 30 September if they agreed to quit.

That left some wondering how many others who had signed would nonetheless be dismissed.

"This has been slash and burn," said Nicholas Detter, who had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late on Thursday night.

He said there seemed to be little thought about how employees, as well as the farmers and ranchers he assisted, would be affected.

"None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully," he said.

Federal workforce reductions

The White House and Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, declined to say on Friday how many probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, have so far been dismissed.

According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 workers had been in their roles for less than a year as of March 2024.

The White House also did not respond to questions about why people who had accepted the buyout had still received layoff notices.

OPM has given agencies until 8 pm on Tuesday to issue layoff notices, according to a person familiar with the plan who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

The probationary layoffs are the latest salvo in the new administration's sweeping efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which are being led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump, in an executive order on Tuesday, instructed agency leaders to plan for "large-scale reductions" after their initial attempt to downsize the workforce — the voluntary buyout —was accepted by only 75,000 workers.

Layoffs get underway

At the Department of Veterans Affairs, the dismissals have included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, US Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, said on Thursday.

Dozens were dismissed from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1,300 probationary employees — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s total workforce — are being forced out.

The Atlanta-based agency’s leadership was notified of the decision on Friday morning, according to a federal official who was at the meeting and was not authorised to discuss the orders and requested anonymity.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it has terminated 388 employees hired over the past two years to align its workforce with Trump's "energy dominance" policy agenda.

The new Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, said on Friday that her agency had welcomed Musk’s DOGE team with "open arms" and that layoffs "will be forthcoming."

"Clearly, it’s a new day," Rollins said at the White House. "I think the American people spoke on 5 November, making it clear they believe government is too big."

The layoffs are unlikely to yield significant deficit savings. The government spends about $270 billion annually compensating civilian federal workers, according to the Congressional Budget Office, with about 60% going to workers at the Departments of Defence, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

'They’ve just created chaos'

Even if the government cut all of those workers, it would still run a deficit of over $1 trillion.

But Trump's mass layoffs of federal workers could come back to bite him in the economic data.

The monthly jobs reports could start to show a slowdown in hiring, if not turn negative at some point after the February figures are released.

The last time the economy lost jobs was in December 2020, when the United States was still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

"Overall, it doesn't seem that DOGE has managed to actually cut spending substantively yet — instead, they’ve just created chaos," said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University.

She noted that employers relying on government grants and contracts would also see declines in hiring, if not worse.

"Given everything that is happening in the federal government, it is very plausible that job growth could turn negative at some point," Gimbel said.

"But it may take a few more reports for the impact to show up."

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Source: TRT