At least 121,000 federal government employees in the US have been fired since US leader Donald Trump came to power in January this year, CNN reported, citing its own data.
According to the media, the mass layoffs have affected about 30 departments, but the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has suffered the most - after several waves of staff cuts, its activities have been suspended. The Department of Education has laid off 51% of its employees and closed 7 of its 12 regional offices. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Institutes of Health, which are part of the Department of Health and Human Services, have lost a significant number of employees.
According to experts, the consequences of these cuts are already being felt by Americans and call into question the government's ability to respond to the interests of its citizens in the areas of education, health care and public safety.
Shortly after taking office, Trump announced a series of measures to reduce the bloated government apparatus and fight bureaucracy. He assigned the American entrepreneur Elon Musk the task of overseeing the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to a poll published on April 28 by ABC, The Washington Post and Ipsos, about 57% of Americans disapprove of Musk's work in the Trump administration. More than half of respondents believe that the massive layoffs of civil servants carried out by DOGE have “gone too far”.