US EditionReport: 10,000+ STEM Ph.D.s Exit Federal Agencies in 2025
Over 10,000 Ph.D. STEM experts exited US federal agencies in 2025 due to budget cuts and restructuring, causing a 14% workforce reduction in key science roles, data shows.
- Last year, some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts left federal jobs, White House Office of Personnel Management data posted earlier this month shows.
- At most agencies, retirements and voluntary quits were the most common reasons for departures, although outside pressures like fear of being fired and buyout offers likely influenced many, OPM shows.
- Across 14 research agencies, the NIH recorded more than 1,100 departures last year, and NSF had a net reduction of 205 STEM Ph.D.s, representing 40% of its pre-Trump workforce.
- Departing Ph.D. employees took with them subject-matter expertise and institutional knowledge, as losses surged in 2025 with all 14 agencies losing more STEM Ph.D.s than in 2024.
- At NSF, 45% of the 204 STEM Ph.D.s who left last year were rotators, and the agency eliminated three-quarters of those positions, reducing rotators' share to 26% by 30 November 2025.
13 Articles
13 Articles
‘Shattered’: US scientists speak out about how Trump policies disrupted their careers
Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House. Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House.
US Government Lost More Than 10,000 STEM PhDs Last Year
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…
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