{"id":9876,"date":"2026-02-06T11:50:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/06\/how-many-federal-workers-has-wisconsin-lost-under-the-trump-administration-milwaukee-journal-sentinel\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:50:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:50:57","slug":"how-many-federal-workers-has-wisconsin-lost-under-the-trump-administration-milwaukee-journal-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/06\/how-many-federal-workers-has-wisconsin-lost-under-the-trump-administration-milwaukee-journal-sentinel\/","title":{"rendered":"How many federal workers has Wisconsin lost under the Trump administration? – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 6, 2026, 5:03 a.m. CT<\/p>\n

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Following mass layoffs and slashes in government spending, Wisconsin lost 2,400 federal workers within the first year of President Donald Trump’s administration, the latest data show.<\/p>\n

Between November 2024 and November 2025, Wisconsin went from 31,300 federal jobs statewide to 28,900, per the latest report from the state Department of Workforce Development.<\/a> After taking office in January 2025, Trump ordered a rapid shrinking of the federal workforce<\/a>, under the directive of the Department of Government Efficiency and billionaire Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

In Wisconsin, the Department of Veterans Affairs saw the steepest cuts, including the firing of at least 20 people<\/a> from VA medical centers and facilities in Milwaukee and Madison.<\/p>\n

More recently, the Trump administration announced a new policy<\/a> that would strip certain job protections from up to 50,000 career federal employees and make them easier to fire. The policy, announced Feb. 5, is already facing challenges in federal court.<\/p>\n

Here’s the latest on Wisconsin’s federal workforce:<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n

How many federal employees does Wisconsin have in 2026?<\/h2>\n

There are 17,401 federal employees in Wisconsin<\/a> as of the 2026 fiscal year, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Federal Workforce Data.<\/p>\n

That’s below the 28,900 federal jobs reported by the state DWD, but OPM’s data does exclude the United States Postal Service, which employs about 10,000 people in the region<\/a> that includes Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

How many federal employees did Wisconsin have in 2025 and 2024?<\/h2>\n

There were 18,525 federal workers in Wisconsin during the 2025 fiscal year and 19,675 workers during the 2024 fiscal year, OPM Federal Workforce Data show.<\/p>\n

Which agencies lost the most federal workers in Wisconsin?<\/h2>\n

With just over 9,800 workers, more than half of the federal workers in Wisconsin are employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the OPM Federal Workforce Data. However, it’s worth nothing that’s about 1,000 fewer VA employees<\/a> than Wisconsin had in fiscal year 2024.<\/p>\n

The agency wit the second-steepest drop was the Department of Agriculture: it went from 1,817 Wisconsin employees in 2024 to 1,389 in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Department of the Army, meanwhile, lost about 240 Wisconsin workers between fiscal years 2024 and 2026.<\/p>\n

Here’s which federal agencies employ the most Wisconsin workers:<\/p>\n