Tracking Efforts to Shrink the Size of the Federal Workforce: September 2025 Update
September numbers, 7 weeks late
Due to the longest government shutdown in history, the release of the September jobs report was delayed by almost 7 weeks (initially set to be released on October 3). Since the period of shutdown included the entire month of October, the usual jobs survey was not conducted that month, so robust data release for October will not be available.
As part of the agreement to pass a continuing resolution and reopen the government, Congress and the White House agreed to pause reductions in force (RIF)—the formal process agencies use to lay off federal employees.
September was a quiet month for federal workforce reduction efforts, but data releases in the coming months will include some 75,000 deferred resignations. For this reason, I anticipate the November jobs report will include significantly higher workforce payroll reductions. The November jobs report is expected to be released on December 16 (11 days later than usual). However, beyond December, we are likely to see a slowdown in workforce reduction numbers due to the pause on RIF efforts through the end of January.
What the numbers show
Today’s jobs report marks the eighth Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report to capture at least some of the workforce restructuring and agency-level staffing adjustments initiated after the new administration issued Executive Order (EO) 14210 on “Reforming the Federal Workforce to Better Serve Americans.”
As of September 2025, there were 2.92 million federal government workers, excluding active military personnel. However, 593,200 of those workers were Postal Service employees. Excluding Postal Service workers, there were 2.33 million federal government workers. This is a decline of just 2,700 from last month, and a total decline in the federal workforce of 85,100 this year.
The Partnership for Public Service estimated that as of September 23, more than 201,000 civil servants had left the workforce. However, as I have noted previously, this figure includes normal attrition and excludes reinstatements and judicial reversals. The number also includes workers who have accepted deferred resignations but are still on federal payrolls.
Shrinking the Federal Workforce: Trump vs. Clinton
Reducing the number of federal employees by the same amount that the Clinton administration did during his first term would require shrinking the federal workforce to fewer than 2.08 million workers by 2028. Reducing the size of the federal workforce back to the Clinton-era lows of 1999 would require shrinking that number down to 1.88 million.
The first figure below shows the month-by-month comparison between workforce reductions under the Clinton administration and those under the current Trump administration. The second shows the Trump administration’s efforts so far in relation to the ultimate goal of matching the scale of Clinton’s cuts.
This series covers workforce reductions, agency restructuring efforts and any new policies or developments related to these initiatives. Stay tuned for regular updates on the Trump administration’s progress toward achieving its federal workforce reduction goals.
You can read my previous updates for February, March, April, May, June, July and August.