Federal employees paid $9.5 billion not to work in 2025: GAO

The federal workforce shrunk by roughly 216,000 workers in 2025.

The federal government paid federal workers $9.5 billion not to work in 2025 amid President Trump's push to shrink the federal workforce, according to a new watchdog report.

In the report published Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office estimated that $6.5 billion was associated with the deferred resignation program.

The Department of Government Efficiency's initiative to force workers to leave via deferred resignations led to a 435% increase in paid administrative leave costs last year. That was six times more than the government spent in 2023 on administrative leave.

That effort started with a cryptic email to federal workers titled "Fork in the Road," inviting workers to take a one-time offer to leave the workforce and receive pay through September 2025.

The federal workforce shrunk by roughly 216,000 workers in 2025, according to federal data. Nearly 140,000 workers took the buyout offer from the government.

Some departments have reversed cuts and hired some workers and contractors back in certain roles to fill government needs while are also continuing plans to relocate staff out of Washington to regional hubs, which could also lead to attrition.

The Trump administration has claimed DOGE led to hundreds of billions in savings, though outside experts have questioned -- and struggled to confirm -- those figures.

The national debt and federal spending have both gone up during Trump's second term.

The Office of Personnel Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.