Agencies backfilled 20,600 employees who left government under the deferred resignation programs, analysis finds

As the Trump administration slashed the civil service last year by more than 300,000 employees, about 41% of the separations were a result of the deferred resignation program. Under the initiative, participating workers were generally placed on paid leave for several months through the end of September 2025 when their federal service officially ended. 

In an Aug. 20 analysis, however, the Partnership for Public Service nonprofit found that many agencies appear to have backfilled impacted positions. Specifically, researchers reported that, by June 2026, nearly 20,600 employees “had been hired in the same agency subcomponents and occupational series as prior DRP separations.”

“Many employees were paid to resign only to be replaced just months later, often at a more junior level,” the Partnership asserted. 

For example, 155 staffers in the “consumer safety inspection” occupational series left government under the DRP, according to Office of Personnel Management federal workforce data, but an equal number of individuals were then hired into jobs in that same series. 

OPM Director Scott Kupor criticized the analysis in a Tuesday blog post, arguing the job classifications that researchers used are too broad to serve as a proxy for backfills. While he disputed the Partnership’s methodology, he also pointed out that it shows only around 15% of individuals who separated under DRP were replaced. 

“That’s pretty good for a program that was rolled out government-wide,” he wrote. “Simply put, 85% of the reductions were real and lasting.”

The Partnership analysis also found that new hires in the backfilled positions came in at an average of roughly 1.4 General Schedule grades below the people they replaced. In particular, researchers flagged that the average GS grade for new employees in the FBI’s “criminal investigation” series was 3.1 grades lower than the average grade among employees at the law enforcement agency who left under DRP. 

In his blog, Kupor contended that the federal government needs to address the underrepresentation of early-career employees at agencies. 

“We believe that organizations can also benefit from bringing in new talent — even with lesser experience — and finding ways to train and promote them to become future leaders,” he wrote. “We don’t have a long-term sustainable organization without developing new talent.”

Government watchdogs in recent months have criticized agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, IRS and General Services Administration, for cutting staff without analyzing how doing so would impact services to the public.