US EditionReport: 10,000+ STEM Ph.D.s Exit Federal Agencies in 2025
More than 10,000 STEM Ph.D. experts left US federal science agencies in 2025, a 3-fold increase from 2024, driven by budget cuts, resignations, and grant terminations, officials said.
- Last year, some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts left federal jobs, White House Office of Personnel Management data posted earlier this month shows.
- At most agencies, retirements and voluntary quits were the most common reasons for departures, although outside pressures like fear of being fired and buyout offers likely influenced many, OPM shows.
- Across 14 research agencies, the NIH recorded more than 1,100 departures last year, and NSF had a net reduction of 205 STEM Ph.D.s, representing 40% of its pre-Trump workforce.
- Departing Ph.D. employees took with them subject-matter expertise and institutional knowledge, as losses surged in 2025 with all 14 agencies losing more STEM Ph.D.s than in 2024.
- At NSF, 45% of the 204 STEM Ph.D.s who left last year were rotators, and the agency eliminated three-quarters of those positions, reducing rotators' share to 26% by 30 November 2025.
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