America will see its largest mass resignation in history as 100,000 federal workers are set to quit their jobs today
While many U.S. workers cling to their paychecks as the job market is rocked by AI-related headcount cuts and dwindling opportunities, federal employees in the thousands are willfully walking out the door.
Today, America will experience its largest mass resignation in history, as 100,000 federal workers are set to formally quit their jobs. It’s a result of the Trump administration’s “fork in the road” Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) that staffers have taken up over previous months, who were allowed to transfer their workload and go on administrative leave until the official end date of federal service on Sept. 30, 2025.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) tells Fortune that about 154,000 federal workers in total took the deal, with the majority leaving today and others exiting by the end of the year.
It claims that the large-scale cut will save about $28 billion annually by lowering long-term spending. OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover tells Fortune that the administration delivered on its end of the employment bargain, and that no previous administration has been “even close to saving American taxpayers this amount of money in such a short amount of time.” A Senate analysis from July reports that the DRP program was set to cost $14.8 billion to pay the wages and benefits of around 200,000 federal workers taking up to eight months of leave.
“Ultimately, the deferred resignation program was not only legal, it provided over 150,000 civil servants a dignified and generous departure from the federal government. It also delivered incredible relief to the American taxpayer,” Pinover says.
The resignations are taking effect as Congress faces a deadline today to authorize more funding or risk a U.S. government shutdown. If no deal is reached, then the White House has instructed federal agencies—already rocked by Elon Musk’s DOGE layoffs since January—to make way for even larger cuts.