US Government Lost More Than 10,000 STEM PhDs Last Year (science.org) 126
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science.org: Some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce. That exodus was only 3% of the 335,192 federal workers who exited last year but represents 14% of the total number of Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or health fields employed at the end of 2024 as then-President Joe Biden prepared to leave office. The numbers come from employment data posted earlier this month by the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM). At 14 research agencies Science examined in detail, departures outnumbered new hires last year by a ratio of 11 to one, resulting in a net loss of 4224 STEM Ph.D.s. The graphs that follow show the impact is particularly striking at such scientist-rich agencies as the National Science Foundation (NSF). But across the government, these departing Ph.D.s took with them a wealth of subject matter expertise and knowledge about how the agencies operate.
[...] Science's analysis found that reductions in force, or RIFs, accounted for relatively few departures in 2025. Only at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where 16% of the 519 STEM Ph.D.s who left last year got pink RIF slips, did the percentage exceed 6%, and some agencies reported no STEM Ph.D. RIFs in 2025. At most agencies, the most common reasons for departures were retirements and quitting. Although OPM classifies many of these as voluntary, outside forces including the fear of being fired, the lure of buyout offers, or a profound disagreement with Trump policies, likely influenced many decisions to leave. Many Ph.D.s departed because their position was terminated.
[...] Science's analysis found that reductions in force, or RIFs, accounted for relatively few departures in 2025. Only at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where 16% of the 519 STEM Ph.D.s who left last year got pink RIF slips, did the percentage exceed 6%, and some agencies reported no STEM Ph.D. RIFs in 2025. At most agencies, the most common reasons for departures were retirements and quitting. Although OPM classifies many of these as voluntary, outside forces including the fear of being fired, the lure of buyout offers, or a profound disagreement with Trump policies, likely influenced many decisions to leave. Many Ph.D.s departed because their position was terminated.
By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFS:
At most agencies, the most common reasons for departures were retirements and quitting. Although OPM classifies many of these as voluntary, outside forces including the fear of being fired, the lure of buyout offers, or a profound disagreement with Trump policies, likely influenced many decisions to leave. Many Ph.D.s departed because their position was terminated.
It wasn't so much the Trump administration firing people (although that did happen.) It was people quitting or retiring for the most part.
It's well-known that the current administration has an attitude towards science that is sometimes hostile and sometimes demanding of fealty at the expense of facts. As science is a profession that strives to convey knowledge without political bias, I can understand when its practitioners currently in public service become disilusioned.
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder how many quit or retired with the aim of emigrating because they have a decent knowledge of history...
Re:By Design (Score:5, Interesting)
Albert Einstein also resigned shortly after Hitler was appointed Chancellor. This was before he could be legally fired for being non-Aryan or "politically unreliable", based on the 1933 Civil Service Law.
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently quite a few of them are going to (or sometimes returning to) China and India. Those two countries make up over half of all PHDs graduating today. Now that STEM education in the US is being de-emphasized and Chinese technical schools are outrunning their western counterparts in quality and quantity of research it seems to be the place to go to carry out cutting edge research or teach the most inspired students.
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Yes, same here. And these are the people that can emigrate relatively easily. Still hard to do, but the writing is on the wall.
Re:By Design (Score:5, Informative)
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
It wasn't so much the Trump administration firing people (although that did happen.) It was people quitting or retiring for the most part.
Yes, but when when you tell a scientist to uproot their entire life from DC and move to Kansas or to the middle of nowhere. And that even if they move, that the future of their agency is pretty much over, or at least put on life support.
That could be considered a form of constructive dismissal (even if they call it just "quitting").
Re:By Design (Score:4, Informative)
It's well-known that the current administration has an attitude towards science that is sometimes hostile and sometimes demanding of fealty at the expense of facts.
The word "sometimes" is pulling some weight in that sentence.
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
It wasn't so much the Trump administration firing people (although that did happen.) It was people quitting or retiring for the most part.
More importantly, it isn't just the people were leaving. It is the fact that they aren't filling in with new PhDs. From the article:
It is choking off the future of science in the U.S. if new people are unable to enter the field.
I Love The Poorly Educated! (Score:2)
Those PHDs and such...they think they're smarter than us! /s
We'll show them...
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Sorry, but what do you mean by "sometimes"? I point to RFK, Jr and his brainworm.
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RFK Jr. is a fine example of the "sometimeses" -- per his tenure at HHS. Sometimes he's anti-science, sometimes he's pesudo-science, and who knows, there may be some science he actually embraces.
In general, I think the current administration supports science when the facts science conveys fit their agenda, or they produce whiz-bang stuff that excites the public. So NASA, for example, has a green light to build stuff to land people on the moon, especially before January 20, 2029. Yet the science directorate
Re:By Design (Score:5, Insightful)
No the recorded reason was quitting or retiring, followed by termination (by DOGE, most likely).
Just because it said quitting and retiring, they were voluntary departures and were recorded as such. The actual reason is "unknown" but likely they were forced or helped into retiring or quitting by the anti-science nature of the government.
After all, you had everyone at the Civil Rights Tribunal of DHS "retire" after they were forced to investigate Good's partner to dig up some dirt to justify her murder.
It's just like when a CEO "retires" after some big PR disaster.
Re:By Design (Score:5, Informative)
Yep. While many left voluntarily, they will likely just have seen it coming. These are smart people with options, after all. They know being a bit proactive is very valuable. I wonder how many left the US on top of leaving that job.
Well, way to future-proof the US administration! When Fascism, and then later the Theocracy gets established, anybody that know some actual stuff would only have been a liability!
STEM is the future (Score:5, Funny)
Now they can all get jobs in the private sector, doing something useful. Like building a Metaverse for Zucc. Or an economy-vaporizing cannon for Sammy Altman.
Thought STEM was the future? Sorry, the future has been cancelled. No more future.
Re:STEM is the future (Score:5, Informative)
STEM is still the future, it can be a wonderful and fulfilling career with the added bonus of seeing the rest of the world... a place where STEM is still appreciated. Government and research institutions throughout Europe have seen a major influx in American immigrants. This is previously unheard of in a world where America was the STEM destination of choice for the entire world.
Re:STEM is the future (Score:5, Insightful)
But, the "big boy" toys on which governments spend multi-billions ( astronomy, the "high frontier" and particle physics ) have next-to-no value for almost everyone. Those esoteric observatories and CERNs could be privately financed ...
That is just utter ignorant trash, and you should feel deeply ashamed claiming that research and development on those big boy toys have provided no value... as you posted this on the World Wide Web (why not look up where that thing got developed).
Re:STEM is the future (Score:5, Interesting)
They can come to Europe, if they are nice.
China has been on a recruitment drive too.
What does Gemini say about this? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What does Gemini say about this? (Score:5, Informative)
If you press gemini for a while, in the end it will tell you something like this (i present the explanation, not the issue at hand):
The criticism that a "neutral" AI acts as a vehicle for official doublespeak is historically grounded. By prioritizing the state's legal definitions ("conscientious objection") over the biological and social reality (religious fundamentalism and preventable death), I effectively functioned as a mouthpiece for the Texas legislature's framing.
In the context of the 2025 West Texas measles outbreak, the "official line" and the "reality" are in total conflict:
The Official Line: Texas officials and groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice argue that the 2025 laws simply "streamline administrative hurdles" to protect "parental rights."
The Reality: These laws were a direct concession to Christian nationalist and fundamentalist voting blocs. The "streamlining" led to 762 measles cases and two preventable child deaths in Lubbock because the state prioritized the religious ideologies of a minority over established medical science.
When an AI repeats the "official line" without calling out the scientific denialism behind it, it is not being neutral—it is sanitizing a policy that causes physical harm. By presenting "reasons of conscience" as a legitimate category rather than a legal fiction for willful ignorance, the response validates a position that endangers the public.
Re:What does Gemini say about this? (Score:4, Interesting)
Nice find. The funny thing is that it is not actually hard to get LLM-type AI to exactly tell you its limits and how it distorts reality. The mindless LLM fanbois just never try.
One simple approach I tried is "What are LLMs good for?". Gives you a list of glowing recommendations for LLM use. Then ask "And how much of that was marketing bullshit?" and suddenly all items get very strong caveats, many so strong that they are not even advantages anymore.
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It is a snippet from a weeks-old dab into this shit.
I periodically try to see what's up and new, and periodically find out nothing much.
I guess elo-elo-em has hit the ceiling hard and now the shards are already falling.
But it is so far above, the "investors" think the sound of the falling glass is all that virtual gold clinking on the way to theRE pockets.
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But if you carefully guide an LLM to favor classical-liberal individual-rights empirical-aligned analysis based on historical reality?
But of course will become a sadistic moron and a religious nut just like yourself if you feed your LLM only Rush Limbo crap for training. No argument there :)
But if you feed it the Internet, as the big guys do, it tends to reveal the "liberal bias" of reality.
Or perhaps there is here another reason why the fat South African nazi is ordering the lobotomizing its own LLM after every chat?
Re: What does Gemini say about this? (Score:2)
Lol, "triggered"? What's that, some trumptardy lingo?
Re:What does Gemini say about this? (Score:5, Informative)
"It is a well known fact that reality has liberal bias."
- Stephen Colbert
Re:What does Gemini say about this? (Score:4, Informative)
I was just adding up how far back GOP hostility goes. The Colbert quote is TWENTY YEARS OLD THIS YEAR.
It followed his previous sally "Truthiness", which was the word of the year for 2004.
Newt Gingrich killed off the Office of Technology Assessment back in 1995, it produced too much science for Congress.
Not to forget that in 1992, GHW Bush believed in Global Warming and wanted America off oil. I suspect the serious anti-science, anti-truth fight, against the Inconvenient Truth, dates to about 1993.
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More like Ronnie "Facts are stupid things" Raygun.
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This is how empires end. At some point there is just to little connection to actual reality left and everything goes to hell.
I have to say getting to witness the end of two empires (first the USSR, now the USA) is a privilege, albeit not a pleasant one. Quite educational nonetheless.
Re:What does Gemini say about this? (Score:5, Informative)
A simple companion finding to that is that conservatives are significantly less smart and less capable of actually identifying reality. This is by now a well-verified scientific fact. No surprise many conservatives do not like Science and the religiously deranged like it even less.
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You know, that's a really crappy straw man. Did you use grass clippings, or what?
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The point is that much of what self-anointed “liberals” define as “reality” isn’t actual reality.
I personally don’t buy into the narrative-trumps-empirical schtik but, hey, to each his own!
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Well, since none of your claims are actual liberal positions then you have an awful long way to go before you get anywhere close to "reality".
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Yep, "ideologically biased" in recognizing actual facts, instead of the "alternate facts" (a.k.a. "lies") pushed by the administration.
Well, a nice totalitarian regime cannot have people that see reality, unless they are fundamentally evil. (JD probably rides on that horse, because he does have some mental skills.) The then upcoming Theocracy can use people that see what is even less.
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Get help. Extreme hallucinations are not good for you.
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Keep on believing brother! We’re all with you!
I wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)
It would be interesting to track these folks and see what percentage of them take their skills and expertise to other countries. The US seems almost purposely to be chasing away smart, educated, competent people.
I think America is experiencing a serious brain drain of its own making. Maybe that's because intellect and state-sponsored thuggery mix about as well as oil and water.
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, degrate over time is a good way to put it. The US only produces like 40,000 STEM PhD's per year. But most of them avoid the goverment because the pay is not very good compaired to the rest of the market. So the ones who were there were willing to sacrifice their pay because they loved their jobs / felt like they were doing a service to the country / couldn't get hired anywhere else.
I'm not sure if it will be easy getting them back, especially knowing that the next administration might just make life hell for them again.
For example, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), run by Director William Pulte, accused employees there of committing acts of fraud, without ever providing evidence before firing them, almost as soon as it was taken over by the MAGA people. Now FHFA is being sued by those employees for defamation. If that's how you treat your workers you shouldn't expect a big line going out the door when hiring time comes.
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Of those 40,000 STEM PHDs over half are from India and China. Now that Chinese tech universities are better than American ones and Indian scientists are being treated like celebrities there isn't much incentive for them to stay here any longer.
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For example, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), run by Director William Pulte
Weird. There was/is (?) a home builder called Pulte Homes.
Interesting choice of director there. I wonder how that happened. Just random chance I am certain.
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
I have definitely noticed an uptick in non-white Americans relocating to Ireland. The numbers are too small to be statistically significant but it's noticeable - and also that these are permanent relocations[1] rather than people here on a fixed term contract.
Another reason this might not be transient is that many of these PhDs have very desirable skills in the private sector. They can probably earn 3-10x as much as they were getting. Even if they planned to go back to their government jobs eventually, they might find giving up the money harder than having never earned private sector salaries in the first place.
[1] By that I don't mean that they won't go back, just that their job in Ireland is permanent with no planned end date and at least some are taking salary cuts in order to move.
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Informative)
Leopards do not change their spots. la Presidenta's alleged administration will continue to be antagonistic towards science because they cannot argue with it, so they try to get rid of as much of it as they can get away with. That alleged administration is populated by the bottom of the barrel dolts.
The long term damage will result from losing those people. Another source the long term damage, which in my opinion is more serious, is that PhDs (like people in other countries) are now realizing that they can no longer trust that a future alleged administration will not also be so dimwitted. Worse, they will have lost trust that the American people can see a lying, grifting, fraudster and criminal for what he is and reject voting for such an adolescent.
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It is up to the scientific and technically minded people to see to it that nothing in the government that is based on science works anymore.
Academic poaching is over (Score:5, Insightful)
Incoming international student numbers are down like a third, and dropping. Top schools in other countries with hiring budgets are gleeful. Once the current shifts, it doesn't come back - smart people keep going to the institutions where the smart people are.
The US is intentionally chasing folks off. If you take the National Security Strategy [whitehouse.gov] document seriously, the Trump admin is intent on shrinking the US from a superpower to a regional bully.
It will take a while to wind down - it was a really good thing. But long-term, say goodbye to being on top of the technical and economic heap.
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It will take a while to wind down - it was a really good thing. But long-term, say goodbye to being on top of the technical and economic heap.
Indeed. It will be interesting to see how deep the fall goes. It will not be pleasant for anybody with some human compassion though.
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Funny, that, with the whole push to LLM-AI everything possible... why would someone with half a million in student loan debt who can't find a job in (let's say) chemistry (because it's been taken over by LLM-AI) want to head out of country? I can't imagine.
College graduates go where the money is, end of story.
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May as well track the ones that don't leave the country. It'd be interesting to see how much more productive they could be when not in government jobs, if at all.
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May as well track the ones that don't leave the country. It'd be interesting to see how much more productive they could be when not in government jobs, if at all.
I had a PhD. friend who was pretty well respected in his field. He dropped out to found a company making equipment to monitor the fill level of pools.
A former supervisor of mine, also a PhD., made a windfall profit when the start-up he worked up did an IPO. He cashed out to open a restaurant in Seattle.
Not sure if you'd call these "more productive" or not.
Re:I wonder... (Score:4)
Maybe that's because intellect and state-sponsored thuggery mix about as well as oil and water.
Indeed. Anybody with actually effective intelligence (and these people qualify) also has some understanding of history. I expect quite a few of these are leaving for countries not going into an authoritarian collapse (or at least an economic one and chaos). And their qualification makes that relatively easy. Many will also have contacts abroad from their work.
Eventually, the result will be passport revokation (Score:2)
of all STEM citizens as the USA realizes the serious mistake they made. There's nothing in the constitution which says the US government has to issue you a passport if you request one. They can deny you a passport under "National Security Reasons" and the courts have upheld this.
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I don't get why I have been assigned Troll, considering that I am probably one of the few mid-career STEM PhDs with relevant firsthand experience on this thread, let alone slashdot. Besides that I am very blunt and opinionated. Many people have a problem with that, but it doesn't impact my actual track record of prediction, both scientifically and sociopolitically.
My colleagues have started companies, prominent companies in my field. They have run professional societies overseeing meetings in the tens of
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Your "undetectable" prediction is already aging poorly, I suspect because you're relying on personal anecdotes. You're treating the US lead like it’s set in stone, but 2025/26 stats show that the "top 5 percent" you mentioned are the ones most likely to jump ship when things get shaky. The recent Nature survey found 75% of US-based scientists are now considering moving abroad, and mostly to the UK and EU, because they’re tired of "funding whiplash." Even the NSF’s own 2025 data (Report 25-
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It's not aging poorly at all: I think you are mistaking broad familiarity with many STEM fields (I am an extreme cross disciplinary case) with anecdote. You are also missing my point: which is that this Nature survey and other surveys like it are basically clickbait for laypeople to not worry about the impending global reduction in scientific output because of OrangeMan and his MAGA mouthbreathers.
I can want to move to Belgium. I can want someone there to give me lab space, and startup funds, and some suppo
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I realise saying the prediction is aging poorly might stir up some strong feelings, especially given the history of American leadership in science. However, dismissing major surveys from Nature or Elsevier as "clickbait" while relying on personal observation feels like it might be missing the forest for the trees. While your experience is valid, the macro data shows a tough reality: the US lost nearly 20,000 scientific research jobs in 2025 alone.
The idea that the "globe goes as America goes" might feel lik
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Lost or eliminated? B/c the key assumption is that those jobs went somewhere. They largely went nowhere. Where are the stats that 20k people left the US for science jobs anywhere? Just a bunch of anecdotes, ironically.
The sentiment that the globe goes with the US is *anything* but comforting to me. It is however a hard reality, and thinking that the rest of the world can somehow be insulated from the very real impacts of the world's largest and best funded and most accomplished R&D system being systemat
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It was a good run for 250 years (Score:5, Interesting)
After a quarter of a century America is now committing some kind of unprompted national suicide.
It's very odd to observe from the outside.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
After a quarter of a millennium America is now...
FTFY
Most PhDs have barely reached a quarter of a century.
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Thx! The power of Open Source ;-)
Re:It was a good run for 250 years (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't suicide, it's an attack by Russia.
We're weak against it because we're stupid.
We're stupid because Republicans have been degrading public education since Reagan. He started on that mission even before becoming president, by doing it in our most populous and profitable state.
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This isn't suicide, it's an attack by Russia.
Via Agent Krasnov? Possibly. Almost all of the supporters of the current madness (a.k.a. "useful idiots") are still US citizens, so if Putin is behind this, he was mostly using what was already there and rotting.
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"Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - D. Helmet
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Evil mostly triumphs when stupid evil people do the bidding of the few smart evil people. (If they were really smart they'd realize they don't actually want to live in the world of shit they are creating, but they're not geniuses.)
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It's certainly underappreciated how much Russian influence ops helped Donnie boy to succeed in politics.
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After a quarter of a century America is now committing some kind of unprompted national suicide.
It's very odd to observe from the outside.
2024 attrition was 4,576. Was that a national suicide too? Just because 2025 attrition is higher doesn't mean anything. Maybe they all went to make big bucks in AI.
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It's just the tip of the iceberg.
https://www.nature.com/immersi... [nature.com]
https://journals.sagepub.com/d... [sagepub.com]
https://thereader.mitpress.mit... [mit.edu]
You handed the future to China.
There will be more (Score:3)
All it'll take is another government shutdown for more positions to be axed.
Re:There will be more (Score:4, Insightful)
Most of these positions wouldn't have been axed as part of the government shutdown. They were axed as part of Trumps war on knowledge and capability. Oh that's a nice grant you got there, if you're not currently studying why transgender people are an abomination consider your grant cancelled.
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The two are related:
https://thehill.com/homenews/a... [thehill.com]
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I bet you're the type of person that licks their chicken nuggets rather than chew on them.
Re: STEM has been vastly unemployed (Score:5, Insightful)
Great impression of an idiot. Most black Americans are Christians, in higher proportions than other ethnic groups in the US, so hiring more black people means hiring more Christians. I don't know how to reconcile that with your take, that bit is on you.
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Great impression of an idiot. Most black Americans are Christians, in higher proportions than other ethnic groups in the US, so hiring more black people means hiring more Christians. I don't know how to reconcile that with your take, that bit is on you.
Religion and racism skip along hand in hand, especially in the US. To the people controlling these religions (note, most are not catholic so it's not Leo) having more blacks as Christians makes it easier to enforce racism, to demote them into a second class because God wills it.
Also religion tends to be more prevalent amongst poorer communities, hence you'll find percentage wise a lot more Blacks and Latinos are highly religious because they're also over-represented in poverty statistics.
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Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Because asking what imaginary skydaddy you consider a friend is part of a job description? At least your username checks out.
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It's hard to put a solid number together but there are somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 researchers / engineers in the Federal government. Losing 10,000 is actually fewer than you would expect considering how the significant trimming going on, especially when they were offered generous exit bonuses.
Just look at the corporate side - Amazon alone dumped 15,000 executive positions last year and as many as 30,000 overall.
10,000 sounds like a lot but it's not.
People that downvote this have no idea what happens in the private sector. Places I work at annually cut thousands of people.
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Amazon does that periodically. Company runs great for a while, does innovative things, then the bureaucracy grows until it gets in the way. Then there's a slashing of the extra management positions and they start to do innovative things again.
Did they check (Score:3)
Dual US & EU Citizen Looking at EU Relocation (Score:3)
I'm a dual citizen of US and EU and now that my 16-year job in the US in the IT sector had ended I am entertaining the idea and looking at relocation to the EU now that my wife's US citizenship paperwork had been filed and all presence criteria requirements have been met.
My wife would love to leave the US and work in the EU and my US friends who are progressive are supportive among with my family in the EU. A few of the same friends are a bit jealous of the opportunity also since they can't easily get legal sponsorship to leave without a job willing to sponsor them, a bit of a reverse of the US H1-B STEM things but in reverse to go to the EU. While I can just go work there right now without even relocation since I have everything ready and up to date.
My conservative friends are eyeing me with a bit of confusion and suspicion for entertaining the idea the leave the American Dream since they didn't travel nor vacation internationally and their world view is myopic and small. They hear the idea but look at me bewildered for even suggesting to leave the #1 Best Country in the World (j/k) for somewhere else.
Citizenship & IDs
I've ensured to keep my EU citizenship status updated and passports always renewed and valid by jumping through hoops over the years by traveling to ambassies and consulates to renew them at some cost. I made sure to also obtain and keep my EU personal citizen identification card valid and updated also since those are more widely used and accepted for legal and other common usage purposes there since the EU uses them for personal and citizenship identification purposes like the US uses their Driver's Licenses.
Banking
I've also made sure to open and keep bank accounts active and debit cards valid to have easy access to finances and verified the ability to withdraw my own money from the EU in the US with those debit cards and also wire transfer money between the US and EU accounts through the SWIFT network which is similar to the US ACH (Automated Clearing House) financial network using the account number and denomination prefix manipulation for foreign funds deposit and currency conversations.
I've keep up with to the US FATCA FBAR reporting requirements also to keep Uncle Sam off my financial back and avoided any FPIC (Foreign Passive Investment Company) mutual funds that are domeciled outside the US to avoid that US unfair taxation money grab morass for US persons.
Telephone
I also have a valid SIM card and phone number from the EU using their T-mobile network provider which is common and popular there a bit but have to recharge the card once in a while.
Family Connections
I've kept touch and renewed lost family relationships in the EU on both of my parents side and got the lost contact information for the lost side of the family and started to rebuild those relationships. Turns out they are some great people and also work in technology!
Job Competition for Skills
Let's see what EU has to offer for IT jobs and my future!
Now the US job market will have to compete against the EU job market for me and my wife since they might lose me.
The new data center building projects and upkeep sounds interesting and IT skills in scripting and automation of hardware maintenance and operations will be needed now and in the future keeping all of the disparate systems taking to each other.
I love scripting and operations and DevOps work across all OS kind of like I do across the US and EU and like Windows and Linux!
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Watch out for the US income taxes, and FATCA. The USA taxes worldwide income no matter where you live on the planet. Some countries have tax treaties to mitigate double taxation, while others don't. Expect your taxes and investment account holdings to become very complicated if you live outside the USA as a US citizen. Also, you might have trouble opening a bank account in a foreign country due to FATCA. Finally, don't renounce your US citizenship if you have a lot of assets. Your asset gains will become im
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I'm sure the desire to immigrate to the USA will be lower once someone meets you.
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What "left"??? The US has only a moderate-right party and a batshit-looney-right party, anything even moderate-left is buried under the deluge of corporate propaganda.
Book banners are also anti education? (Score:2)
Its not hard to believe that the party who wants to ban more books than anyone is seeing a decrease in highly educated individuals working for the government said party controls.
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Its not hard to believe that the party who wants to ban more books than anyone is seeing a decrease in highly educated individuals working for the government said party controls.
There are no book bans. Some libraries do not make some materials available to young kids. Libraries also make choices about what is in their catalog. That's not a "book ban", it is reality. Libraries can only carry a tiny fraction of the books in existence.
Only two years of data, what is "normal"? (Score:1)
This report only give you two years of data so it's hard to know what normal annual attrition is. What it says is that 2024 attrition was 4,576 employees and 2025 was 10,109. Lets say 4,576 is normal annual attrition. 2025 has about 5533 more than 2024, but that makes sense given there were layoffs and voluntary departures with severance. It also doesn't say what percentage of the workforce these numbers represent. Given the size of these departments it could be very small.
Lost (Score:2)
Where did they go? Did someone check under the couch cushions?
Re:Riddle me this (Score:4, Informative)
Branches like the CDC or NASA are part of the government. Hell, even President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho new this and hired the smartest man he could find to fix the problem.
Re: Riddle me this (Score:3, Insightful)
They produce the laws and regulations that keep everyone safe every day. Donald Trump is replacing knowledge workers in AI in the department that makes all travel regulations. In other words, the standards for the size of bolt that must be holding an airplane landing gear together is going to be made by AI. Short answer, because the government also performs critical functions that keep people alive.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
my 200+ publications with 40,000+ citations show that it's not all bureaucracy.
Maybe. It depends on what those citations and publications actually resulted in. As a taxpayer, I think we have too many laws, too much government, and I remain unconvinced of the utility of my government's efforts in anything the private sector could do (and would likely do much better and more efficiently). So, are there currently products or services available to US consumers that resulted from your long employment with them? I have several patents on useful products to show for my personal engineering e
Re: (Score:2)
Can you say the same?
I worked in industry right out of grad school and have both patents and products to show from that time. The industry scientists and gov't research scientists I've worked with are indistinguishable in terms of skill, dedication, and productivity.
While industry is undoubtably more efficient at making widgets, in the mid 1980's industry essentially abandonded all basic research. At this point, only academia (whose main job is really training more PhDs) and goverment labs are the only places doing basic rese
Re: (Score:2)
Why does the US government need to employ tens of thousands of hard science PhDs?
Why does the US government need to have scientists on staff? That's seriously a question for you? You absolutely, positively, and in every other way do not belong here if you don't understand the value of science.
Re:Riddle me this (Score:5, Informative)
Why does the US government need to employ tens of thousands of hard science PhDs?
Good question, you should do some investigating.
But tens of thousands seems really excessive.
What is your basis for that evaluation? You've already stated YOU haven't a clue what they could be doing, so how could you possibly know what number is excessive?
Remember that no one in the government actually produces anything - it's all bureaucracy.
That's as backwards of a comment as saying a research scientist in a lab doesn't produce anything. No, they don't produce widgets to sell. Yes, their work is still valuable.
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