President Donald Trump, left, and Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Reuters)
Trump signed an executive order in February instructing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal government staffing numbers.
That order is reflected in the new data, OPM said, showing that agencies averaged 23,000 new monthly hires from April 2024 to January 2025 but dropped by nearly 70% to just 7,385 per month once the hiring freeze was fully implemented.
Peter Morici, an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland, told Fox News Digital that "Basically, Elon Musk poured a few teacups of ice water into the ocean to combat its rising temperature."
Elon Musk is seen wearing a DOGE hat. ( Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
David Hebert, an economist with the American Institute for Economic Research, said the reduction reported by OPM "is certainly a start."
"The real challenge that President Trump is facing is the fact that the federal government has taken upon itself far too many responsibilities," he added in a statement to Fox News Digital. "If the President and Congress are serious about streamlining government, they need to move beyond ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ and look to shedding responsibilities that the federal government ought not have in the first place."
OPM said "hundreds of thousands more workers" will drop from the rolls in October 2025, when more workers depart via the Deferred Resignation Program that was offered to employees in an effort to trim the workforce.
Tens of thousands of employees who are in the process of being terminated remain on the government payroll due to court orders that are currently being challenged by the administration, according to OPM.
Elon Musk receives a golden key from U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
"The American people deserve a government that is lean, efficient, and focused on core priorities," Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell said in a statement.
"This data marks the first measurable step toward President Trump’s vision of a disciplined, accountable federal workforce, and it’s only the beginning."
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Trump's effort to shrink the federal workforce has faced stiff resistance from Democrats and various courts, with opponents saying that the administration is cutting critical jobs.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/disappointing-doge-federal-workforce-shrinking-just-1-shows-bureaucracys-entrenchment-experts-say