GAO: OPM lost 35% of its workforce by March 2026
The Office of Personnel Management lost 1,052 employees, or 35% of its workforce, between December 31, 2024, and March 31, 2026, according to a Government Accountability Office report published and publicly released July 20, 2026.
OPM is the federal government’s central personnel agency. Its responsibilities include government-wide workforce policy, hiring guidance, retirement administration and other services used by federal agencies, employees and retirees. GAO said the reductions risk worsening existing skills gaps, reducing institutional knowledge and creating operational-capacity problems. The report did not conclude that OPM’s mission has failed.
What changed at OPM
GAO’s analysis of OPM workforce data found that the agency’s headcount fell by 1,052 people over the period. OPM also reported in its fiscal 2026 congressional budget justification that it had eliminated 10 offices.
Office-level figures in GAO’s review compare full-time-equivalent positions in fiscal 2024 with fiscal 2026. The Office of the Chief Information Officer lost 167 FTE positions, or 49%; Retirement Services declined by 165 positions, or 16%; and Merit System Accountability & Compliance fell by 38 positions, or 41%.
Retirement Services administers federal civilian retirement systems. GAO noted that OPM said it expanded that team after a historic surge of retirements in 2025, but the office still had fewer FTEs in FY 2026 than in FY 2024.
Not every OPM office became smaller. GAO said the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of the Director increased their FTE counts, and that some offices assumed additional responsibilities from other parts of the agency.
Among the separations analyzed by GAO, 59% occurred through a deferred resignation program and 10% through a reduction in force. The number of OPM employees age 60 or older fell 49% during the period.
Many departing employees had long federal service
GAO found that 57% of employees who separated from OPM had at least 11 years of service. Eighteen percent had at least 31 years of service.
That pattern matters because long-serving employees can carry knowledge about systems, procedures and institutional history that may be difficult to replace quickly. GAO said the loss of experienced staff could deepen skills gaps that had already been identified as a longstanding concern at OPM.
The report also found that 41% of OPM employees under age 30 separated during the period. Among those separating employees, 60% were within their probationary period, compared with 23% of all separating employees.
Oversight warnings were already in place
OPM’s inspector general identified workforce reductions as a top management challenge for fiscal 2026 in a report issued November 24, 2025. The inspector general cited immediate gaps in operational capacity and also discussed the agency’s broader human-capital and skills-gap challenges.
That earlier oversight finding provides context for GAO’s July assessment. It does not establish that all OPM services have deteriorated or that the workforce reductions were unjustified. GAO described the effects as risks involving capacity, skills and institutional knowledge.
What the public record does not explain
GAO said it requested documents and answers about OPM’s office closures and consolidations, workforce-planning process, rationale, expected costs and benefits, and possible effects on the agency’s mission.
GAO said OPM did not provide the requested documents or information, agree to an interview or respond to written questions during the review, apart from comments on a preliminary draft. As a result, GAO said it could not fully explain why the changes were made or measure their effects on OPM’s operations.
Government Executive later reported that OPM submitted additional information after the report was released and that GAO had not yet reviewed those materials. That development does not change the findings in the published report, but it could add context to the agency’s rationale and planning decisions.
GAO said its analysis used OPM workforce data obtained in June 2026 and warned that workforce statistics may not reflect updates made after that date. OPM’s public data-download page identifies the underlying employment and separation datasets as monthly federal workforce records.
For federal employees and retirees, the practical questions are whether OPM can maintain retirement processing, workforce guidance, information-technology systems and other government-wide services with a smaller staff. The next developments to watch include additional OPM staffing decisions, retirement-service performance, proposed transfers of responsibilities and any further reviews by GAO or the inspector general.
Sources
- Government Accountability Office: Recent Federal Workforce Changes at OPM
- OPM Federal Workforce Data Downloads
- OPM Inspector General: Top Management Challenges for Fiscal Year 2026
- Government Executive: OPM shrinks its workforce by a third
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