Intro

The White House is continuing its mission to hollow out the federal workforce.

The Trump administration has signaled that it will use the government shutdown to prompt and encourage mass resignations and layoffs.

More than 150,000 federal employees plan to leave the U.S. government payroll this week. It’s the largest single-year exodus of federal workers since World War II.

For workers who opted into the deferred exit program, those resignations began on Tuesday. Workers who didn’t take the buyouts were recently threatened with dismissal.

We check in on the state of the federal workforce.

What happens now that tens of thousands of these employees are leaving? And what’s life like for those who remain?

Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a. 

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy