Trump Administration Begins Massive Layoffs in Health and Human Services
TL/DR –
The Trump administration has begun implementing a workforce reduction plan that could ultimately see 10,000 staff forcibly laid off from the Health and Human Services (HHS) department. This action marks the first impact of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s departmental overhaul, which aims to reshape the department overseeing food supply, disease outbreak monitoring, critical medical research, and health insurance management for nearly half of the US. The planned job cuts are expected to reduce HHS staff numbers from 82,000 to 62,000, with positions in human resources, procurement, finance, and IT targeted, along with jobs in high-cost regions and roles deemed redundant.
Massive Layoffs at Health and Human Services Under Trump Administration’s Downsizing Plan
Thousands of employees at the Health and Human Services (HHS) across the country are being laid off. This marks the initial implementation of the Trump administration‘s workforce reduction plan, projecting to eliminate approximately 10,000 staff through forced layoffs.
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced a department overhaul last week. This comes days after President Donald Trump took steps to strip collective bargaining rights from federal agency workers, including those at HHS.
Health department employees anxiously waited outside federal buildings in Washington DC and Maryland, seeking clarity on their employment status. Some employees have known for a while that job cuts were coming under the Trump administration’s workforce reduction plan, known as Project 2025.
The HHS previously offered voluntary buy-outs and early retirement packages during legal reductions of force in the early 2000s. However, this round of layoffs comes with heightened security measures, with employees subject to TSA-like inspections.
Kennedy’s restructuring aims to dramatically reshape the HHS. A new office, “the administration for a healthy America,” is planned to absorb agencies controlling significant funding for addiction services and community health centers.
The reduction plan is expected to shrink HHS staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 positions, eliminating nearly a quarter of its workforce through layoffs and early retirement offers. The layoffs will primarily target jobs in human resources, procurement, finance, IT, and those considered “redundant or duplicative”.
Specific job losses will impact multiple agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS executive Karen Shields shared a post on LinkedIn, revealing that one team was directed to contact a deceased director with any complaints. “I knew her. This would have broken her heart.”
In Washington, an employee waiting in her office’s security line expressed her disbelief at the Trump administration’s plan. “We help vulnerable people, vulnerable communities,” she stressed. “We’re civil servants, not political workers.” The HHS employee tearfully expressed the unfairness of the layoffs, noting that factors such as job series, performances, and costs were typically considered in such decisions.
—
Read More Health & Wellness News ; US News