On March 7 local time, a US official said that about 4,000 Department of Defense personnel began receiving dismissal notices this week. In addition, according to an email from the Office of Personnel Management, 31,000 civilian employees submitted resignation applications, which is equivalent to 3.5% of the total number of civilian employees in the Department of Defense. As of now, the resignation applications of 11,000 people have been accepted.
On March 7 local time, the US President said that he was trying to downsize the government and develop the private sector.
On the same day, the director of the White House National Economic Council said that the President hoped to create high - paying manufacturing jobs in the US, end wasteful government spending, and reduce inefficient government staff. He said that releasing these government employees into the private sector could improve efficiency.
After the new US government took office in January, it strongly promoted the large - scale reduction of federal government employees. The White House Office of Personnel Management issued an order, offering a "buy - out" plan to federal employees to encourage them to resign voluntarily and dismissing probationary employees. This measure involves many federal agencies, and more than 20,000 government employees have been dismissed in multiple departments so far.
It is estimated that there are about 200,000 probationary employees in various federal government departments. They generally have less than one year of service, and their positions cover many fields from fire prevention to veteran care. Since probationary employees have fewer employment protection measures and their employment period is at most less than two years, they have become the key targets of this reduction.