The Trump administration paid billions to federal employees who weren’t working because of their participation in deferred resignation programs, a government watchdog said in a report released Tuesday.
As part of its efforts to shrink the federal workforce in 2025, the administration sharply increased the number of workers on paid administrative leave, contributing to an estimated $9.5 billion in salary costs — a sixfold increase from 2023 — according to the Government Accountability Office.
The report also found that federal agencies’ use of paid administrative leave increased by 435% from 2023 to 2025. The GAO estimates that roughly 144,000 employees were placed on leave through the Deferred Resignation Program and that it alone accounted for more than $6.7 billion in salary costs.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. Office of Personnel Management immediately responded to a request for comment on the report.
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The increase coincided with the administration’s broader effort to reduce the federal workforce. The program allowed federal employees who agreed to resign or retire by Sept. 30, 2025, to remain on paid leave, retaining their salaries and benefits.
The report also found OPM “does not know the actual costs of paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts” in 2025 because the agency used the same payroll systems to track all payments. The GAO report also faces limitations since not all agency data is available.
In August 2025, the Trump administration argued that the Deferred Resignation Program could save the federal government up to $20 billion dollars annually.
“We designed the DRP as a practical, humane, and voluntary option to accelerate workforce transitions in a system that desperately needed movement,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in an agency release. “Employees were given the option to retire early and receive eight months of paid leave; in return, the government will save $20+ billion in costs, annually.”
On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, the administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to stop hiring. In the following days and weeks, the president also directed agencies to prepare for large-scale reductions in the federal workforce.
In Tuesday’s report, the GAO recommended that OPM create a separate payroll category for administrative leave used in workforce-reduction efforts, which would allow the government to better track the costs of programs. It also recommended that OPM disclose unresolved problems with the administrative-leave data it releases. OPM agreed to both recommendations, but further action is expected.
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