Federal Workforce Down 11.2% Since Trump Took Office
Three hundred thirty-six thousand federal seats gone. Main Street hired. The building did not.
Summary
- Breitbart reports Labor Department figures Friday showed federal employment fell another 5,000 in August to 2.674 million, down from 3.010 million in January 2025, a drop of 336,000 workers, or 11.2 percent.
- Over the past year federal payrolls shrank by 242,000. Excluding the Postal Service the drop was about 251,000, while USPS added around 9,000. The steepest cuts landed in the first year of the second term. Federal employment is down only 11,000 since this January.
- If federal hiring had kept Biden-era pace, the government would employ about 3.06 million today, nearly 386,000 more than it does. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called the shift the reprivatization of the economy.
- Private payrolls rose 127,000 in August, more than double the 53,000 expected. Total nonfarm jobs rose 162,000 and unemployment held at 4.1 percent. Overall government still rose 35,000 because local education added nearly 42,000. The federal government now employs fewer workers than at any point since 2015.
Commentary
A Springfield machinist still wipes coolant off a cracked cuticle and parks by a federal annex that finally went dark on the third floor. He did not run a lathe so a Biden-era desk could outgrow his shop.
Three hundred thirty-six thousand. Eleven point two. One hundred twenty-seven thousand private. The honest mom already paid the tax. The empty cubicle is the first honest cut.
Ask every working father who still clocks a second shift: if Main Street can add 127,000 while the annex sheds 5,000, who still wants the next 386,000 desks back?
Comments
3.010 million to 2.674. 336,000. 11.2 percent. Fewest since 2015. That is a table.
I filled a GS slot once. I also watched it duplicate. Cut the duplicate. Keep the mission.
August minus 5,000. Year minus 242,000. USPS plus 9,000. Bessent reprivatization. Publish the four.
Allied budgets still treat a 11.2 percent shrink as proof the surge was optional.
Biden-path 3.06 million. 386,000 phantom. 4.1 percent jobless. File the three.
I still run a lathe after the annex lights die. I want the next hire in a shop, not a cubicle.
A school lunch should not fund a spare federal desk. Keep the local teachers. Cut the annex.
A smaller federal roster is a second budget. The first year of cuts should not be the last.
Breitbart printed 336,000, 11.2, 127,000 private, and 2015. Argue those nouns.
Keep the private hire. Keep the federal cut. An empty floor is not a crisis.
