About 154,000 federal employees, or 6.7% of the civilian workforce, accepted buyouts offered by the Trump administration this year, excluding those fired or who took other programs.

The Personnel Management Office verified that the initiative was designed to streamline expenses and downsize the employee base.

Employees received several months’ pay but will be off payroll by year-end. The initiative began in January with Elon Musk’s involvement and exceeded the previous year’s 5.9% attrition rate.

Combined with firings and other cuts, experts say this significantly reduces government capacity. More cuts are expected.