Trump cuts shrink federal workforce back to Obama levels

President Donald Trump’s reductions have dramatically shrunk the federal workforce to the smallest level in more than a decade, according to economic data.

Total federal government employment fell by 6,000 in November, following a drop of 162,000 federal government jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. There were about 2,744,000 federal workers employed in November, marking the lowest reported number since December 2014, in the middle of former President Barack Obama‘s second term, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

The sharp decline in the size of the federal workforce in October was driven by the fact that employees who have accepted buyouts earlier in 2025 were officially taken off payrolls, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in November, increasing 64,000, and has shown little net change since April, the BLS reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate in November was barely changed from September at 4.6%, according to the BLS.

“The strong jobs report shows how President Trump is fixing the damage caused by [former President] Joe Biden and creating a strong, America First economy in record time,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Tuesday. “Since President Trump took office, 100% of the job growth has come in the private sector and among native-born Americans — exactly where it should be. Workers’ wages are rising, prices are falling, trillions of dollars in investments are pouring into our country, and the American economy is primed to boom in 2026.”

The new employment data comes after total nonfarm payroll jobs in the U.S. were expected to rise by 45,000 in November and the unemployment rate was projected to increase 4.5%, CNBC reported on Tuesday. The release of Tuesday’s jobs report was notably delayed due to the longest-ever government shutdown, The Wall Street Journal reportedon Monday.

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Joe Gruters praised Trump’s economic policies in a post to X following the release of the jobs report on Tuesday.

“President Trump delivers again!,” Gruters wrote in the social media post. “Thanks to the President’s America First policies, we added 64,000 new jobs in November and wages are up 3.5% year over year! All we needed was a new President!”

The Trump administration has made it a priority this year to reduce bureaucratic waste and shrink the number of workers across federal agencies. Additionally, Trump has moved to revoke labor contracts for roughly 700,000 federal workers in the U.S. this year, CNN reported on Dec. 12.

On Monday, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the launch of a new strike force intended to slash Biden-era regulations that drove up costs for U.S. small businesses and consumers. Moreover, many voters are still worried about dealing with higher prices this holiday season, but less so than they were during the middle of Biden’s term, per a new AP-NORC poll released on Friday.

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