USDA Lost More Than 20,000 Employees in Early 2025, Inspector General Finds
OIG report shows nearly one-fifth of USDA’s workforce exited in just five months, driven overwhelmingly by a deferred resignation program, with sharp variation across agencies and states
A new report from USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) finds that USDA experienced substantial workforce losses in the first half of 2025, with 20,306 employees leaving between Jan. 12 and June 14, 2025 — roughly 18% of the department’s total workforce at the start of the year. USDA employed 110,384 workers as of January 11, 2025, according to the report (link).
The analysis shows the dominant driver of attrition was the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). Of the total departures, 15,114 employees — nearly three-quarters — exited under DRP agreements, dwarfing retirements (1,280), resignations (1,996), terminations (1,636), and external transfers (175). Attrition spiked dramatically in Pay Period 8 (April 20–May 3), when more than 9,600 employees left, coinciding with peak DRP activity.
Attrition affected every state and U.S. territory, though the intensity varied widely. Rhode Island recorded the highest percentage loss at 38%, while Kentucky experienced the lowest at 12%. Large absolute losses were concentrated in states with significant USDA footprints, including California, Texas, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, reflecting both DRP participation and agency concentration.
At the agency level, workforce impacts were uneven. Several offices saw attrition rates exceeding one-third of their staff, including the Office of the Secretary (67%), Office of Communications (57%), Office of Policy and Program Evaluation (54%), Rural Development (36%), and Departmental Administration (37%). By contrast, operational agencies with large field presences, such as Farm Service Agency county offices (7%) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (9%), recorded comparatively lower attrition rates, though losses were still significant in absolute terms.
The OIG emphasized that the review was descriptive rather than evaluative, focusing on staffing levels and attrition patterns rather than operational impacts. However, the scale and concentration of departures underscore the magnitude of workforce change underway at USDA in 2025, raising questions for Congress and stakeholders about program delivery capacity, institutional knowledge loss, and longer-term rebuilding of the department’s workforce.
