The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon have 20,000 less full-time roles. While 10,000 employees will be exiting voluntarily, the Department, headed by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, is laying off 10,000 more.
As a result, the 82,000-strong workforce of the HHS will be reduced to about 62,000, say reports. That isn’t all; the Department is also closing down half its regional offices.
About 1,000 jobs will be cut in the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which is an independent health department (HHS) agency.
Media reports say that about 2,400 employees will be let go in the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and 3,500 full-time positions will be axed in the Food and Drug Administration.
About 1,200 jobs will be cut across various institutes of the National Institute of Health (NIH), while 300 people will be terminated in the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
These moves are part of a major overhaul, and a realignment of the Department with its main goals and priorities.
The cuts are also in line with US President Donald Trump’s attempts to reduce the federal government workforce size.
In the second week of February 2025, federal agencies were directed to hire just a single employee to replace four terminated employees. This order was issued by Trump in consultation with Elon Musk—head of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE—who is attempting to trim the US government workforce.
