Who's at risk? DOGE's job cuts impact these agencies the most

The deep cuts across federal agencies since Donald Trump’s return to the White House include reductions in force, which mean not only layoffs but also elimination of positions altogether.

Tens of thousands of job losses have been announced by agencies, including the Department of Education, which Trump has said he wants to eliminate altogether. Others have been part of plans shared with The Associated Press but not yet made public.

Here’s a look at reductions in force so far across federal agencies:

What is a ‘RIF’?

According to a White House memo sent to federal agencies in late February, each agency has until Thursday to develop a report on its plans to reduce its workforce, the results of which could be extensive changes in how government functions.

More plans are due April 14, when agencies are expected to outline how they will consolidate management and potentially relocate offices to parts of the country that are less expensive than Washington. These plans must be implemented by Sept. 30.

According to the Office of Personnel Management, agencies must follow guidelines set out in the Code of Federal Regulations when conducting reductions in force, including consideration for status as a veteran or total years of federal service. And, according to OPM, while each agency has the right to decide what positions are abolished, those regulations are what determine the specific employees included in the cuts.

Department of Education: 1,300 jobs

On Tuesday, officials announced plans to lay off more than 1,300 employees, raising questions about the agency’s ability to continue its usual operations. The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, officials said.

The department sent an email to employees Tuesday telling them its Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday and reopen Thursday, with the only reason given for the closures being unspecified “security reasons.”

Department officials said they would continue to deliver on key functions such as the distribution of federal aid to schools, student loan management and oversight of Pell Grants.

Trump has said he wants to dismantle the agency. His administration had already been whittling the agency’s staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After the cuts, the department will employ 2,183 people, according to a Tuesday news release.

Department of Veterans Affairs: 80,000 jobs

According to an internal memo obtained last week by AP, Veterans Affairs is planning an “aggressive” reorganization that includes cutting 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care for retired military members.

The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency that it had an objective to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act.

The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.” It also calls for agency officials to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals.

Veterans have already been speaking out against the cuts at the VA, which so far had included a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of the VA’s employees are veterans themselves.

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 1,000 jobs

The nation’s weather, ocean and fisheries agency on Tuesday began plans to lay off 10% of its current workforce, four people familiar with the matter told The AP.

Those cuts of about 1,000 positions follow earlier rounds of Trump administration firings and encouraged retirements at NOAA, plus the elimination of nearly all new employees last month. In all, the new round of reductions means that NOAA will have eliminated about one out of four jobs since Trump took office in January.

While most people know about NOAA and its daily weather forecasts, the agency also monitors and warns about hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and tsunamis, manages the country’s fisheries, runs marine sanctuaries, provides navigation information to ships and observes changes in the climate and oceans.

The agency also plays a role in warning about avalanches and space weather that could damage the electrical grid. It helps respond to disasters, including oil spills.

Internal Revenue Service: As many as 45,000 jobs

The IRS is drafting plans to potentially halve its workforce through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts, two people familiar with the situation told The AP last week.

The federal tax collector employs roughly 90,000 workers total across the United States, according to the latest IRS data. Already, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS employees with roughly one year or less of service were laid off from the organization in February.

The organization also offered IRS employees along with almost all federal employees across the government “deferred resignation program” buyouts, though IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told last month that they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until mid-May, after the taxpayer filing deadline.

In addition to the planned layoffs, the Trump administration intends to lend IRS workers to the Department of Homeland Security to assist with immigration enforcement. In a letter sent in February, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with ongoing immigration crackdown efforts.