On Wednesday, November 12, 2025, after 43 days, the longest government shutdown in history ended. Thousands of federal employees found themselves either temporarily out of work or working without a paycheck in sight.
Historically, government careers and jobs have been considered to be some of the most stable jobs out there with a plethora of benefits; however, at the beginning of this year, the Trump Administration made it clear that this is no longer the case.
In the Spring of 2025, The Trump Administration announced that under his unofficial leadership of the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), an initiative to help reduce governmental debt and increase productivity throughout the workforce.
DOGE called for thousands of federal employees to either resign or be terminated unless they returned to full-time work. This initiative focused mainly on those who still often used telework rather than going into the office, which had been occurring for some since the pandemic, when many switched to somewhat of a somewhat hybrid work schedule.
Although it was initially meant to reduce costs, according to The Associated Press in September of this year, GSA (General Services Administration), which is responsible for centralizing and managing Government buildings and workspaces, sent out reinstatement letters to former leaders of these government spaces. AP found that the GSA racked up high costs that were then passed onto taxpayers. “Those who accept must report for duty on Oct. 6 after what amounts to a seven-month paid vacation, during which time the GSA in some cases racked up high costs passed along to taxpayers.”
The government, having essentially racked up thousands of employment positions that needed to be filled, left some employees unsure about how the decisions of the government may affect them moving forward. The DOGE initiative overall brought huge amounts of uncertainty at the start of this year, with employees concerned about being terminated or laid off.
This has continued throughout the year as federal employees have become more concerned about the future of their jobs. One employee of the U.S. Forest Service, who requested anonymity out of concern, said that, “The current administration’s direction to cut all federal government staffing and spending across the board caused a loss in productivity in our Agency; (US Forest Service under the Dept. of Agriculture). We lost a lot of people to deferred resignation programs, firing of temporary seasonal staffing, and career employee early retirements.”
Along with this, the government has had increasing efforts to cut costs through whatever means necessary, which has begun to show in the form of higher fire risks. The U.S. Forest Service employs over 10,000 firefighters in permanent positions. Along with this, the Forest Service not only provides fire protection for National Forest lands but also provides mutual aid when needed, responding to anything from car accidents to medical emergencies; if they are the closest, they still go. This further leads to another issue, which is how one manages land if they don’t have the proper staff to do so.
“Climate continues to drive change on the landscape (increased fires, drought, insects, disease are all part of the system), with limited budgets and staffing, we continue to struggle in the areas of Fire and Fuels Management. which can cause immediate loss in habitat and wildlife species occurrences. Active management requires research to help systems function,” said the same employee, who is both a wildlife biologist and part-time firefighter for the forest service, “While robust budgets and trained professionals apply the work on the ground. Without people serving, we are not the Forest Service, and we will continue to struggle to manage landscapes across the Nation.”
Government staffing issues continue to persist, and with the possibility of another Partial Shutdown on the horizon in January 2026, pending an ongoing resolution, thousands of employees continue to be uncertain about the future of their jobs.
