Federal Government Employment Dropped in October as DOGE Cuts Took Effect

Federal government employment dropped sharply in October and continued to fall in November as cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year began to impact employment numbers.

Employment in the sector dropped by 162,000 in October and 6,000 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In an Employment Situation press release issued Tuesday (Dec. 16), the BLS attributed the sharp decline in October to federal employees coming off federal payrolls after accepting a deferred resignation offer earlier in the year.

“Federal government employment is down by 271,000 since reaching a peak in January,” BLS said in the release.

The Employment Situation press release in which these numbers were reported was delayed by the federal government shutdown. The November release was delayed by a week, while the October release was not published due to the shutdown that lasted from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, according to the release.

Overall, according to the release, the number of employees on nonfarm payrolls in the United States increased by 64,000 in November after declining by 105,000 in October.

Total nonfarm payrolls stood at 159,552,000 in November, compared with 159,488,000 in October and 159,593,000 in September, according to a table that accompanied the release.

In November, the healthcare, construction and social assistance sectors saw the biggest gains in employment. Healthcare added 46,000 jobs, in line with the monthly average of 39,000 over the past year. Construction gained 28,000 jobs after having seen little change in employment over the past 12 months. Social assistance added 18,000 jobs.

In addition to the federal government continuing to lose jobs, the transportation and warehousing sector lost 18,000 jobs.

Employment in other major industries was little changed, the release said.

America’s Credit Unions Senior Economist Dawit Kebede said in a statement provided to PYMNTS: “The jobs gain report for October and November reveals a continuation of the weakening trend in the labor market, with unemployment rising two percentage points and October showing sharp declines due to DOGE cuts, despite modest gains in November. Additional signs of broader challenges to the labor market include concentration of job gains in only a few private sector industries and downward revisions of prior month reports.”

DOGE was established in January as President Donald Trump pushed to reduce the size of federal agencies and their budgets. It was reported in November that the agency has essentially disbanded and that many of its duties have been taken over by the federal government’s human resources arm, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).