The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers in 2025, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on September 16, 2026. The report indicates that the use of paid administrative leave increased by 435% from 2023 to 2025, with salary costs from such leave rising sixfold. This increase coincided with President Donald Trump's establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency in 2025, which was led by Elon Musk and involved significant workforce reductions, including the dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Approximately $6.7 billion of the increased leave costs stemmed from a deferred resignation program that allowed nearly 140,000 federal employees to receive salaries through September 2025 if they agreed to resign early. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) noted that it does not have precise figures for the costs associated with paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts, as these costs are reported alongside other types of general paid administrative leave.
The deferred resignation program was introduced shortly after Trump began his second term, with federal workers receiving a communication outlining their options. During this period, the federal workforce decreased by more than 271,000 employees as of July 2026, according to OPM data. This figure includes both voluntary and involuntary departures, and the data shows that the federal workforce had grown each year from 2015 until Trump's re-election in 2025.