A leaner federal workforce is a win for taxpayers

One of the most unheralded policy successes of President Donald Trump’s second term has been the purging of many unnecessary federal jobs.

The federal government has reduced its workforce by 300,000 jobs since Jan. 20, 2025, bringing it down to a still-bulky 2.7 million employees. Not since President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society vastly expanded the scope of the national government has the federal workforce been at this level.