US Government Layoffs Continue, Nearly 10,000 Fired

WASHINGTON, SATURDAY - The wave of layoffs of United States (US) federal government employees continues. Nearly 10,000 out of approximately 2.3 million US government employees have been dismissed.

More than 9,500 U.S. federal government employees received the layoff notice on Friday (14/2/2025) local time or Saturday Indonesian time.

Most of the new employees are still on probation, but some have already attained civil servant status. They are employees in the Departments of the Interior, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services.

That number is in addition to the approximately 75,000 employees who participated in the early retirement program that has now been closed.

The dismissal of employees is part of the bureaucratic trimming for the efficiency of state finances. US President Donald Trump stated that the federal government is too bloated and drains too much state finances due to wastefulness with work that he considers deceitful.

The reduction of federal employees is regulated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk. In addition to layoffs, Trump and Musk proposed the elimination of several government agencies, such as the US Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The White House and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) declined to specify the number of employees who have been dismissed. According to government data managed by OPM, as of March 2024, 220,000 workers had less than one year of service.

OPM has given the agencies targeted for employee cuts until Tuesday (25/2/2025) at 20:00 to issue layoff notices.

One government agency that saw major cuts in the first wave was the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The department announced the layoffs of more than 1,000 employees with less than two years of service on Thursday night (2/13/2025).

Democratic Senator Patty Murray said the employees fired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs included researchers working on cancer treatments, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.

According to the union representing agency employees, dozens of people at the U.S. Department of Education have received layoff letters. They include special education specialists and student assistance officers.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1,300 probationary employees are also being laid off. Atlanta-based CDC leaders were informed of the decision Friday morning.

In the environmental sector, the U.S. Forest Service is laying off about 3,400 new employees. The National Park Service is laying off about 1,000 employees.

The wave of U.S. government layoffs continues. Sources say the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), whose primary function is to collect taxes, is preparing to lay off thousands of workers next week.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her agency has welcomed the DOGE team with open arms and layoffs will be imminent. "Obviously, it's a new day. I think the American people agree that government is too big," she said.

Staffing cuts have raised concerns about threatening public services. A month after the Los Angeles wildfires, for example, a federal program stopped hiring seasonal firefighters. And the U.S. federal government has stopped clearing fire hazards such as dead wood from forests.

However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the concerns, calling the cuts similar to the financial audits Musk conducted over DOGE.

"They are serious people, and they go from one institution to another, auditing, looking for best practices," he said.

Fired federal workers express shock. "I've done so much for my country and as a veteran who served my country, I feel like I've been betrayed by my country," said Nick Gioia, who was fired from the USDA's Economic Research Service on Thursday night.

In fact, Goia, who has worked at the institution since December 2024, still has to support a family with a child who suffers from epilepsy. He considered the dismissal unrelated to the performance of the federal government.

"Seeing people like Musk tweet that he feels like he's doing a great job, he doesn't realize what he's doing to people's lives," said Goia, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees union, which represents more than 100,000 workers, said he suspects the move is an attempt by Musk to weaken the U.S. government’s control over industrial employers and the ultra-wealthy. “That’s why Elon Musk is so happy about this,” he said.

Workers across the U.S. have reacted to the policy with anger and confusion over their future. As layoff notices were sent from agency to agency, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling as they were told their services were no longer needed.

In fact, some of those who received layoff notices actually accepted deferred early retirement offers. Under the early retirement program, they were supposed to be paid through September 30, 2025.

On Friday evening, OPM acknowledged some employees may have received layoff notices in error and said early retirement agreements remained in effect.

Seeing people like Musk tweet that he feels he's done a great job, he doesn't realize what he's doing to other people's lives.

David Rice (50), a disabled Army paratrooper, had been on probation since joining the US Department of Energy in September 2025. He was fired on Thursday night.

Rice had been working as a foreign affairs specialist on health issues related to radiation exposure. She said she was shocked because she had been assured that her job would likely be safe. But on Thursday night, when she logged on to her computer for a meeting with Japanese representatives, she saw the firing email. "This is all a mess," she said.

Rice said she agrees with the Trump administration's goal of making government more efficient, but she rejects the approach as haphazard and uncertain.

Following the wave of layoffs, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and a group of other US unions filed a lawsuit on Thursday, alleging unlawful layoffs.

“Terminating probationary employees who have undergone extensive training would have a detrimental impact on the agency’s mission and government operations,” NTEU President Doreen Greenwald wrote in a letter to union members Thursday.

He said many federal agencies are already severely understaffed due to years of frozen or cut budgets.

On Friday night, advocacy group Democracy Forward filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers.

They are asking for an investigation into whether the mass firings violate federal personnel practices and to halt the firings while the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, labor activists and government employees rallied outside the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington on Friday to protest the wave of layoffs. "They're picking us off, one by one. First the probationary workers, then us next," said a federal contractor who declined to identify himself for fear of reprisals. (AP/Reuters)