Just a month after President Donald Trump’s administration fired over 100,000 early-tenure government employees, his administration is planning a larger slashing of workforce across the country, the details of which are becoming clearer by the hour.
The job cuts come as economists are increasingly worried about the risk of a recession due to Trump’s trade war with Canada and Mexico, which has battered stock prices.
On Tuesday, a Trump administration official told USA TODAY the Department of Education will be laying off one-half of its staff. Department employees were ordered not to come into the office on Wednesday.
NASA has announced layoffs at three key offices, plans have leaked for laying off 76,000 employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs this summer, and Trump has floated the idea of cutting more than half of the staff at the Environmental Protection Agency.
The next big deadline is Thursday, when agencies need to submit plans for large-scale layoffs, called a reduction in force. Agencies may notify employees any day that their jobs are expiring within 30 or 60 days.
