A Year After DOGE, Trump Administration Is Quietly Hiring Again

During the first year of his second presidency, President Donald Trump dispatched a chainsaw-wielding billionaire to loudly eliminate more than 300,000 federal jobs in an unsparing attempt to shrink the government.

Now, the Trump administration is quietly hiring again.

Job announcements posted to the federal government’s main hiring portal were up 23% in March from the previous month. The government has launched new recruiting drives targeted at tech staffers, attorneys and project managers.

Elon Musk holding a chainsaw during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2025.

Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

And the budget proposal that Trump submitted to Congress this month would authorize a small increase in total full-time equivalent employment in 2027. Though ...