336,000 fewer federal jobs since January 2025. Most of them left a pension behind.
The number gets quoted as a workforce statistic. It is also a retirement statistic. Roughly 336,000 people have come off federal payrolls since January 2025, and most of them were nowhere near retirement eligibility — they took a deferred resignation, resigned, or watched a term appointment end. Nearly all of them left behind a partially earned FERS annuity, and a significant share do not know they still have it.
1. Where the number comes from
Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll data puts the decline in federal government employment at roughly 336,000 since January 2025, about 12% of the civilian federal workforce. The composition matters more than the total: formal reductions in force were a small share. The Deferred Resignation Program, ordinary retirements, and attrition did most of the work.
That composition is changing. The voluntary tools are largely spent, and agencies turning to involuntary separations now do so under rules rewritten to make that faster, with appeals moved out of the MSPB. But the 336,000 who have already left are the larger group, and almost nothing has been written for them.
2. What they left behind
Five years of creditable civilian service vests you in a FERS annuity. Leave your contributions in the fund and you have a deferred annuity payable at 62 with five years, at 60 with 20, or as early as your minimum retirement age with 10 years at a reduced rate. The computation is frozen at your separation: your high-3 and your years of service on the day you left.
| Service at separation | High-3 | Annual deferred annuity | Begins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 years | $82,000 | $5,740 | 62 |
| 12 years | $95,000 | $11,400 | 62 |
| 20 years | $110,000 | $22,000 | 60 |
Even the smallest row is worth six figures over a normal retirement. And nothing arrives automatically — OPM does not find you at 62. You apply, with Form RI 92-19, about 60 days before you want payments to start.
3. The refund, and why it is the wrong answer
A refund pays back your own contributions — roughly 0.8% of pay for pre-2013 hires, 4.4% for those hired in 2014 or later — and permanently voids the annuity and any survivor benefit. For a 16-year employee hired in 2010, that is about $12,000 once, against roughly $15,200 a year for life starting at 62. The refund breaks even inside the first year of payments.
It is defensible in narrow cases: under five years of service with no intention of returning, or a documented emergency with no other resource. Outside those, it is the one decision in this whole situation that cannot be undone. See taking the FERS refund.
4. What to do now
- Confirm your creditable service from your separation SF-50, including any military deposit you completed before leaving.
- Check whether you separated at MRA with 10 or more years. If so you have a postponed annuity, not a deferred one — and postponing restores FEHB when it starts, which a deferred annuity never does.
- Do not take the refund without running the comparison.
- Handle the TSP: any loan balance became taxable about 90 days after separation, and the Rule of 55 applies if you left in or after the year you turned 55.
- Calendar the application for the year you turn 59 or 61, whichever applies. Unclaimed deferred annuities are a real category.
The full walkthrough — eligibility, the math, FEHB and FEGLI, the TSP, and returning to service — is in the deferred annuity guide.
5. FAQ
How many federal jobs have been lost since January 2025?
Federal government payroll employment has declined by roughly 336,000 since January 2025 according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a reduction of about 12 percent of the civilian federal workforce. The decline came mainly from the Deferred Resignation Program, retirements, and ordinary attrition rather than formal reductions in force, though the balance is shifting toward involuntary separations now that the voluntary tools are largely spent.
If I left federal service without retiring, do I still have a pension?
If you completed at least five years of creditable civilian service and left your FERS contributions in the retirement fund, yes. You have a deferred annuity payable at 62 with five years of service, at 60 with 20, or as early as your minimum retirement age with 10 years at a reduced rate. It is not automatic: you must apply using Form RI 92-19, roughly 60 days before you want payments to begin.
Should I take a refund of my contributions instead?
Almost never with five or more years of service. A refund returns only your own contributions, typically 0.8 percent of pay for pre-2013 hires, and permanently ends any right to an annuity or survivor benefit based on that service. A deferred annuity on 20 years and a $95,000 high-3 pays about $19,000 a year for life; the refund on the same service is usually well under $20,000 once.