WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming.
The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government. The notification was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to discuss the matter publicly.
It's expected to be the first step in sweeping layoffs throughout the federal government. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that told agency leaders to plan for "large-scale reductions in force."
Elon Musk, whom Trump has given wide leeway to slash government spending with his Department of Government Efficiency, called Thursday for the country to "delete entire agencies" from the federal government.
"I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind," Musk said as he spoke via a videocall to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. "If we don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back."
'Vast unraveling'
Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University, said it seemed like the administration was "inventing new methods for destroying government capacity."
By laying people off, the government will be able to accomplish fewer things.
"It's a vast unraveling of what federal agencies do," he said.
Thursday's order was an expansion of previous directions from OPM, which told agencies earlier this week that probationary employees should be fired if they weren't meeting high standards. It's not clear how many workers are in a probationary period. According to government data maintained by OPM, there were 220,000 workers with under a year on the job as of March 2024, the most recent data available.
The firing of probationary employees began earlier this week, and it has included workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education.
At least 39 workers were fired from the Education Department on Wednesday, according to a union that represents agency workers, including civil rights workers, special education specialists and student aid officials.
The civilian federal workforce, not including military personnel and postal workers, is made up of about 2.4 million people. While about 20% of the workers are in Washington and the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia, more than 80% live outside the capital region.
Trump's initial attempt to downsize the workforce was the deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, which offered to pay people until September 30 if they agreed to quit. The White House said 75,000 people signed up, and a federal judge cleared a legal roadblock for the program on Wednesday.
However, the number of workers who took the offer was lower than the administration's target, and Trump has made it clear that he would take further steps to lay people off.
Employees at the National Science Foundation and Housing and Urban Development Department were told this week that large reductions in the workforce, in some cases a halving of the workforce, would be coming, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to discuss it.
The National Science Foundation was told to expect a 25% to 50% reduction in force within two months, while the Housing and Urban Development Department was told to plan for a 50% reduction, the person said.
Employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were also bracing Thursday for reductions in their workforce.
The order Trump signed Tuesday stipulated that government functions not required by law would be prioritized for cuts and hiring would be restricted. With exceptions for functions such as public safety, only one employee can be added for every four who leave. In addition, new hires would generally need the approval from a representative of the DOGE, expanding the influence of Musk's team.