The federal civilian workforce shrank by nearly 256,000 employees, 11.3%, across every major agency in 2025, a government watchdog report confirmed. The Government Accountability Office reports found the workforce across 22 of 24 major federal agencies fell from 2.27 million to 2.01 million employees between December 2024 and January 2026.
Agency Cuts
The Department of Education saw the steepest decline, losing 45.6% of its workforce and falling from 4,273 to 2,326 employees. The General Services Administration fell 36.8%, Housing and Urban Development 30.5% and Energy 29.4%. The Internal Revenue Service, a Treasury Department subagency, lost more than 5,000 employees, ending the period with 74,557 workers.
Chris Edwards, a federal tax and budget expert at the Cato Institute, estimated the reductions saved taxpayers about $41 billion annually – just over 2% of the federal deficit. However, Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the cuts could hurt revenue collection over time.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
