Elon Musk and Donald Trump, the president’s top advisor, are pushing for a massive downsizing in government.
On Friday, the latest round of layoffs will continue. This is causing concern among workers in the public sector.
According to a Reuters article, many government agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, Education, Small Business Administration, and others, have dismissed a large number of probationary workers, which are employees hired within the past two years, who can be terminated more easily.
The report stated that data from the federal agency indicates approximately 280,000 civilian federal workers fall under this category.
According to reports, the Office of Personnel Management overseeing federal hiring has advised agencies that they should dismiss these employees.
The Trump-Musk overhaul seems to be growing.
Musk’s staffers were seen Thursday arriving at the Internal Revenue Service, and US embassies are being told to be prepared for workforce cuts.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the federal governments is inefficient and overstaffed, and he has pointed to $3.6 trillion of debts and the $1.8 trillion deficit last year.
Democrats criticize the Trump administration for bypassing Congress’ authority to set federal budgets.
Musk has also been criticized for his role in government restructuring. Critics question whether Musk’s aggressive strategies to cut costs, similar to the ones he used at Twitter (now X), are appropriate for federal employees.
Layoffs affect not only probationary staff, but also those with fixed-term contracts. This is particularly true at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Trump’s administration is adamant that they intend to reduce the size of civil service. They cite inefficiencies, and bureaucratic opposition to White House policy.
According to the White House, efforts to encourage voluntary resignations were successful. Approximately 75,000 workers — or about 3% of civilian employees — accepted buyouts.
The administration also proposed to cut foreign aid and strip protections for civil service workers. It has even tried to close down US agencies such as the CFPB, or the US Agency for International Development.
Employees are on edge as they await the next stage of Trump and Musk’s radical restructuring plan.
As new information becomes available, this post Trump and Musk cut federal workforce in mass layoffs for US government could be updated.
