The Trump administration paid federal workers $9,5 billion not to go to work.

As part of the Department of Government Effectiveness' program to reduce the federal workforce, spending on paid administrative leave has increased by 435%, writes The New York Times.

The Donald Trump administration will pay federal employees $9,5 billion in absenteeism payouts in 2025. This is part of the president's plan to cut federal bureaucracy and government spending, according to a new report from the Congressional Oversight Agency.

According to a report from the US Government Accountability Office, the Department of Government Effectiveness's program, which involves reducing staffing through deferred layoffs, led to a 435% increase in the use of paid administrative leave in the first year of Trump's second term. Compared to 2023, this represents a roughly sixfold increase.

On the subject: Elon Musk-led layoffs cost the US budget $11 billion.

The drastic reduction in the federal workforce was part of the Trump administration's broader program to curb what it called excess and inefficient budget spending. It was initially claimed this would save $1 trillion.

The administration claims to have already achieved savings of more than $200 billion, but there is no independent confirmation of this estimate. Furthermore, the federal deficit has grown since Trump returned to the White House, partly due to the war with Iran and the massive tax cuts the Republicans passed in 2025.

At a congressional hearing on September 15, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a government spending-cutting initiative was "on the way."

Spending on civil service salaries and benefits accounts for only a small share of the federal budget, yet it has become one of the Trump administration's first targets for cost cutting.

In January 2025, approximately two million federal employees received a letter with the subject line "Fork in the Road." It proposed a one-time paycheck until September 2025 for those who quit within nine days.

At the same time, employees were warned that they would likely lose their jobs in the future anyway, since the administration intends to reduce the size of the federal apparatus.

According to data from the Office of Personnel Management, the federal civilian workforce has been reduced by approximately 12% since Trump returned to office due to layoffs, voluntary departures, and new hiring. However, the agency was unable to estimate the long-term savings from these measures, the Government Accountability Office noted.

Of the $9,5 billion spent on paid administrative leave, about $6,7 billion, according to the Congressional Oversight Body, is related to the deferred separation program, which agencies continued to offer through other periods in 2025. Federal statistics show that 139,963 employees took advantage of the offer.

The largest number of such layoffs occurred among civil servants in the departments of agriculture, defense and finance.

Critics accuse the Trump administration of losing experienced workers through cuts, hurting Americans who rely on federal programs.

"Trump has spent billions to push out desperately needed talent from government—perhaps the most expensive way to make government worse," Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said on September 15.

The rush to implement staff reduction requirements led some agencies to withdraw deferred layoffs or rehire employees to replace those who left. The Partnership for Public Service, an organization that advocates for improved federal service efficiency, found that the government refilled more than 20,000 vacancies created by such layoffs.

Following the layoffs, federal agencies have launched recruitment drives, including for legal and technology professionals, to make up for the 2025 losses. Particular emphasis is placed on early-career hiring.

"I'd like to see more people like Big Balls," Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said in an interview with right-wing conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on September 14. He was referring to Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE employee hired last year. (The story caused quite a stir: experienced managers were replaced by a boy with the online nickname "Big Balls," which eloquently characterizes the entire DOGE program.) Approx. Ed.)

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"We need people who consider themselves patriots and say, 'You know what? I care about this country. I'm ready to do something useful,'" Kupor emphasized.

According to him, such young employees can join government service for a few years, not for life. Coristin is currently working in a new White House unit focused on improving the design of government websites.

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