Federal agencies have hired more than 20,000 employees into positions matching jobs vacated through the Trump administration’s Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), according to a new analysis from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.
The partnership’s Aug. 20 analysis found that 20,557 employees who left through the DRP could be matched with a new hire in the same agency subcomponent and occupational series by June 2026.
“In many cases, agencies were hiring while employees in similar positions had likely been placed on administrative leave,” the partnership said. “From February to August 2025, 8,642 employees were hired in subcomponents and occupational series associated with DRP departures before experienced employees had even left.”
According to the analysis, replacement employees hired into General Schedule-equivalent positions entered government an average of 1.4 grades below those who departed. Additionally, about 63% of the new hires had no previous federal government experience.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) launched the DRP in January 2025, offering most federal employees months of paid leave if they agreed to resign. A second round of resignation opportunities followed at some agencies that spring. OPM Director Scott Kupor has described the program as a “step towards a smarter, leaner, more effective government.”
However, the partnership said agencies in many cases shed employees without adequately considering whether their positions or expertise would still be needed. DRP separations accounted for 41% of federal employee departures in 2025, according to the analysis.
At the IRS, 4,566 customer service representatives left through the DRP, according to the analysis. The agency later received authorization to replace many of those positions but fell short of hiring goals.
The IRS’s average taxpayer hold times rose 75% compared with the 2025 filing season, the partnership said. On the most popular phone line, the average hold time reached 45 minutes, and 31% of calls were answered by a representative.
The analysis also pointed to staffing effects in public safety and specialized occupations. At the Agriculture Department, the partnership identified job postings for consumer safety inspectors in 54 cities between March and August 2025 where an employee later departed through the DRP. It also found wider experience gaps among replacement workers in occupations such as meteorology and criminal investigations.
The partnership concluded that the DRP did not consistently account for workforce planning principles intended to preserve mission-critical skills, noting that agencies in some cases paid employees to leave only to replace them months later at more junior levels.
“While it is impossible to fully quantify this loss of institutional knowledge and capacity, one thing is clear: The DRP has made it harder for agencies across the government to serve the public,” the partnership said.