“While VA had been considering a department-wide RIF to reduce staff levels by up to 15%, employee reductions through the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition have eliminated the need for that RIF,” the VA said Monday.
The department nationally had about 484,000 employees on Jan. 1, 2025, and 467,000 employees as of June 1 — a reduction of nearly 17,000, according to numbers released Monday.
Another nearly 12,000 additional VA employees are expected to leave their jobs through normal attrition, and the government’s offerings of a voluntary early retirement or the deferred resignation program, the VA said.
“Since March, we’ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “As a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction — both in terms of staff levels and customer service."
Earlier this year, there were about 2,355 full-time employees at the Dayton VA Medical Center. Local VA spokespeople have said there have not been large job losses locally.
The Dayton Daily News asked a Dayton VA Medical Center spokeswoman how many local employees have lost jobs.
“These staff reductions have not affected Dayton VA Medical Center benefits or services,” she said.
Referring to a release from the national VA, she said more than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.
“From the very beginning I have long said that I had full confidence in Secretary Collins and the Trump administration to make the right decision surrounding any plans to reduce VA’s workforce,” U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said in a statement.
“With today’s announcement from Secretary Collins, those who have spent the last six months yelling from the sidelines should have held off their criticism of potential plans until a plan was actually in place,” Bost said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the secretary and President Trump to effect real change for the veterans VA serves.”
In the Senate, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., had a different take.
“This announcement makes clear VA is bleeding employees across the board at an unsustainable rate because of the toxic work environment created by this administration and DOGE’s slash and trash policies,” Blumenthal said. “This is not ‘natural’ attrition, it is not strategic, and it will inevitably impact veterans’ care and benefits, no matter what blanket assurances the VA secretary hides behind.”
In March, the VA had about 482,000 employees nationwide, about 459,000 working full-time.
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