The Trump administration remains on track to shed about 300,000 employees by the end of the year, following layoffs and buyouts that were prompted by President Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor told The New York Times in a new interview that he doesn’t anticipate significant downsizing beyond efforts that have already been underway before the fiscal year ends next month, despite fears from some workers.
“There’s still some moving parts there,” he told the Times. “My gut is — I don’t think there’s going to be meaningful changes, kind of through Sept. 30, relative to at least what’s been forecast to date.”
The overall cut represents about 12.5 percent of the 4.4 million workers on the federal payroll when Trump took office in January, based on figures Kupor cited.
An OPM spokesperson confirmed to The Hill the contents of the Times story but did not provide further comment.
The figures also mirror what the director told Reuters earlier this month.
In both articles, Kupor maintained that reductions had largely come from voluntary buyouts — rather than firings, after the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began reviewing agencies.
“I think the agencies expected they would have fewer people in the, call it ‘voluntary bucket,’ and they would therefore have to do more in the ‘involuntary bucket,'” he told The Times this week.
However, the OPM director said he does not know what the White House plans to propose for the coming year or whether it would include further cuts.
“That’s a little bit of a TBD,” he said. “That’s the one I think that we don’t really have as much guidance on right now.”
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