Federal Government Paid $9.5 Billion in Administrative Leave in 2025

The federal government paid employees an estimated $9.5 billion in administrative leave during 2025, with $6.7 billion of that total tied to a Department of Government Efficiency deferred resignation program, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report, released on September 15, found that the use of paid administrative leave increased by 435 percent from 2023 to 2025, with associated salary costs rising sixfold. The deferred resignation program, initiated in January 2025 with a "Fork in the Road" email, offered roughly 2 million federal workers full pay and benefits through September 30 if they resigned. According to federal workforce data, approximately 139,963 employees accepted the offer. The GAO estimated this program alone accounted for about 70 percent of the total paid leave costs in 2025. The report analyzed payroll data from 76 federal agencies, representing about 95 percent of the civilian federal workforce. It found that agencies reported 21.6 million paid administrative leave workdays in 2025, up from 4 million in 2023 and 4.4 million in 2024.