Over 15,000 USDA employees have quit through Trump's financial incentives
Nearly 15% of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) task force has left the entity through one of the Trump administration's two financial incentive offers to leave the agency, according to a readout from a USDA briefing with congressional staff seen by Reuters.
The U.S. president's incentive program aims to shrink the federal workforce by offering several months of pay and benefits if they leave their jobs.
Reuters reports that at the USDA, 3,877 staff signed contracts in the agency's first Deferred Resignation Program in February and 11,305 signed contracts in the second round in April, for a total of 15,182 resignations, according to the readout of the Friday morning briefing.
The USDA has said that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is working to make the agency more efficient.
Overall, more than 260,000 people across the federal civilian workforce have been fired, taken early retirement, earmarked for termination, or accepted buyouts since the start of Trump's second term in office. That represents about one-tenth of the federal civilian workforce.
However, 53 position classifications, including wildland firefighters, veterinarians, and food safety inspectors, have been exempted to ensure critical agency functions continue, the spokesperson said.
