Over 10,000 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year after President Donald Trump took office in January last year.
While the figure accounted for only 3% of the 335,192 federal workers who exited last year, it represented 14% of the total number of PhD holders in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or health fields employed at the end of 2024 as then-President Joe Biden prepared to leave office, according to White House’s official data reported by Science.org
Which roles were hit the hardest?
Although the payroll for both STEM PhDs and other employees shrank across the agencies, research roles were hit particularly hard.
NSF, EPA, the Department of Energy, and USFS all lost a greater percentage of that highly trained workforce than other workers, the data showed. At NSF, the net reduction of 205 STEM PhDs between January 1 and November 30 last year constituted 40% of its total pre-Trump PhD workforce of 517, by far the largest percentage at any agency.
STEM PhDs also make up a larger percentage of the total workforce at NSF than at any other agency, some 30% in the waning days of the Biden administration. The losses reduced that percentage to 26% by November 2025.
What factors are responsible for the reduction in workforce?
Science.org’s analysis found that federal reductions in force, accounted for relatively few departures last year.
Only at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where 16% of the 519 STEM PhD.s who left last year got pink RIF slips, did the percentage exceed 6%.
At most agencies, the most common reasons for departures were retirements and quitting. Although the White House’s official data classified many of these as voluntary, other factors, including the fear of being fired, the lure of buyout offers, or a profound disagreement with Trump’s policies, likely influenced their decisions as well.
Many PhD holders’ positions were also terminated. At NSF, 45% of the 204 STEM PhDs who left last year were rotators, academics who were on leave from their university to work for a few years at the agency. Last year, NSF eliminated three-quarters of those positions.