The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work

MSN via CFP ^ | 8/1/2025 | Meryl Kornfield, Hannah Natanson, Laura Meckler

[Presbyterian Reporter]

The government is paying more than 154,000 federal employees not to work as part of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, according to two administration officials. The number, which has not been previously reported, accounts for workers at dozens of agencies who took offers from the government as of June to get paid through Sept. 30 — the end of the fiscal year — or the end of 2025 and then voluntarily leave government, significantly reducing the size of several major agencies, according to two Office of Personnel Management officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose details of the administration’s plans to scale down government. The buyouts have rapidly sped up the process of slashing the federal workforce at an unprecedented rate, the officials said. But critics have argued that the administration’s tactics of using buyouts and administrative leave have been wasteful because the public is paying tens of thousands of employees not to work for months. The two officials could not say how much the government is spending on salaries for employees who are resigning. The timing of buyouts has varied by agency, employees remain on their agencies’ payrolls as long as they are on leave, and some workers also got additional payments through other retirement programs. The officials also could not say how much they expect the cuts will save in payroll costs in the long term. The employees who have resigned amount to about 6.7 percent of the government’s civilian workforce of 2.3 million people.

[V_TWIN]

Also, a lot of good bands came out of Canada in the late 70s and into the 80s.

BTO
Triumph
Loverboy
Rush
April Wine

[ridesthemiles]

THEY TOOK BUYOUTS===GETTING PAID UNTIL SEPT 30.

WHERE IS THE STORY ABOUT THOSE FED EMPLOYEES WHO HAD THE GUTS & LACK OF SENSE WHO FILED FOR “UNEMPLOYMENT”-—WHEN THEY ARE GETTING PAID FOR ANOTHER 2 MONTHS.

I KID YOU NOT

[GreyFriar]

Kinda reminds me when the government was paying farmers not to raise food crops back in the 1950s and/or 60s. Yes, there might be an argument for it, but the FR headline just “triggered” this old memory.

[from occupied ga]

That’s funny. I thought the government was paying millions of people, i.e. most government “employees”, not to work.

[null and void]

"But critics have argued that the administration’s tactics of using buyouts and administrative leave have been wasteful because the public is paying tens of thousands of employees not to work for months."

Wasteful as contrasted to paying millions of families not to work for generations?

[dragnet2]

Government’s civilian workforce of 2.3 million people?

LOL! What are or were they all doing? Good grief! AI could likely replace 95 percent of this epic burden on the taxpayers.

[null and void]

AI could likely replace 95 percent of this epic burden on the taxpayers.

And they can then learn to code...

[dragnet2]

lol...

[webheart]

The headline seems shocking because the number is so small. The number of people they pay not to work is in the millions. Of course the article clarifies that they are talking about government employees and not the millions of people sitting around collecting welfare.