Federal Workers Morale Crisis 2026: The Mass Exodus Nobody's Talking About

# Federal Workers Morale Crisis 2026: The Mass Exodus Nobody's Talking About

> **Quick answer:** Over 400,000 federal employees have left since January 2025 — the largest mass departure from the U.S. government in modern history. A 2025 survey of 11,083 current federal workers by the Partnership for Public Service put the government-wide employee engagement score at just 32 out of 100. Some agencies scored as low as 8.1. Morale, trust in leadership, and psychological safety have all collapsed — and the effects on public services are already being felt.

The federal workers morale crisis is not a future risk. It is already reshaping how the U.S. government functions, from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet outside niche policy circles, this story remains drastically underreported compared to its scope.

The numbers tell a staggering story: a net loss of approximately 285,000 federal employees, engagement scores that rival struggling private-sector firms at the height of layoff cycles, and a government that — for the first time in 16 years — stopped collecting its own workforce data.

## The Scale: What 400,000 Departures Actually Means

Since President Trump took office in January 2025, over 400,000 federal employees have left their government positions through a combination of layoffs, firings, and a controversial Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). The DRP offered workers full pay through September 2025 in exchange for immediate resignation — prompting approximately 100,000 people to accept, marking the largest mass resignation of government workers in U.S. history.