Federal agencies distributed $9.5 billion in paid administrative leave to workers during 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce through the “department of government efficiency” initiative led by Elon Musk, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Tuesday.
The GAO found that paid administrative leave usage increased substantially between 2023 and 2025, rising 435 percent over that period and costing six times what the government spent in 2023. The total workdays of paid administrative leave jumped from approximately 4 million in 2023 and 4.4 million in 2024 to about 21.6 million in 2025. Of the $9.5 billion total, $6.7 billion was associated with a deferred resignation program. Around 70 percent of the paid administrative leave used in 2025 was tied to the deferred resignation program, with 144,312 employees across 76 agencies reported taking such leave.
The administration has reduced the federal workforce by approximately 355,000 employees since January 2023. Critics argue the effort has created challenges, with some agencies later seeking to rehire personnel after determining too many positions had been eliminated. Douglas Pasternak, research director of Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project, characterized the federal overhaul as “haphazard,” citing examples including delays in Social Security check deliveries, longer wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals, cuts to federal firefighters, and reductions at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Senator Patty Murray, vice-chair of the Senate appropriations committee, released a statement condemning the layoffs, arguing the administration spent billions to remove experienced experts from government positions and that this represented an inefficient approach to reducing costs.
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