Following more than a year of sweeping reductions across the federal workforce, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told House lawmakers on Wednesday that he would be open to hiring more federal employees \u2014 with one crucial caveat.<\/p>\n
Kupor said he would be \u201cperfectly happy\u201d to see an increase in federal workforce staffing if it meant that the number of federal contractors went down. The OPM director described contractors as a \u201cshadow\u201d workforce and argued that creating that type of shift would save taxpayer costs and improve government services.<\/p>\n
\u201cContractors, I think, can be very valuable where you have temporary assignments, or you have skill gaps where potentially the government can\u2019t recruit those,\u201d Kupor told<\/a> the House Appropriations Committee\u2019s subcommittee on financial services and general government. \u201cInstead, we have people who are contractors for five, 10, 15, 20 years. They are basically full-time employees in disguise, and they get paid anywhere from 25% to 100% higher than what a federal employee would.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 380,000 federal employees have left their jobs since President Donald Trump took office, through both voluntary and forced means. Later this year, the Trump administration is expected to get clearer insights into agencies\u2019 forward-looking staffing plans, for both federal employees and contractors.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n OPM and the Office of Management and Budget are jointly requiring<\/a> all executive branch agencies to provide annual staffing plans at the beginning of each fiscal year. Those plans, according to Kupor, should include agencies\u2019 intended staffing levels for both contractors and full-time federal employees.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have encouraged [agencies] to do is to manage that as a single bucket of dollars, and to go through and figure out where there are opportunities to reduce contractor dollars \u2014 and, quite frankly, increase [federal employee] headcount,\u201d he told lawmakers.<\/p>\n At the same time, Kupor also told the subcommittee that agencies are still looking to fill talent gaps in \u201ccertain areas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are reshaping the workforce to make sure we are taking advantage of technology, taking advantage of areas that we need to, where we might have critical talent gaps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As part of those recruitment plans, Kupor spoke about the need to hire early-career talent \u2014 a longstanding challenge for the federal government. Through hiring efforts such as OPM\u2019s recently created \u201cTech Force\u201d initiative<\/a>, the OPM director said he intends to encourage younger employees to join the federal workforce, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about as existential a problem as we have in government today \u2014 are we convincing younger people to come into government and do government service?\u201d Kupor said. \u201cThen on the other end, do we have the technology skills to be able to advance our nation in the way that, I think, is appropriate?\u201d<\/p>\n Since Trump took office, the share of federal employees under age 30 has declined from about 9% in 2024, to about 8% by the end of 2025<\/a>, according to OPM\u2019s workforce data. Democrats during the hearing questioned how the administration\u2019s overhauls to the workforce would impact early-career employees\u2019 interest in joining their ranks.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of sending a message to those young people you want to recruit, what is that positive message we\u2019re going to send them, in the context of the environment we see in federal employment today?\u201d said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the subcommittee\u2019s ranking member.<\/p>\n Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) also raised concerns over what he said is a lack of \u201cstability\u201d in federal jobs, considering the mass probationary firings and other removals of federal employees that have occurred since Trump took office. Ivey questioned what type of \u201csignal that sends to young people looking to come into the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf there are going to be parts of the government that are firing people at random, at points when they need stability and they need fair treatment, and their record is going to reflect the fact that they got fired \u2014 if that\u2019s what happens, you\u2019re going to undermine the ability to bring in the best talent,\u201d Ivey said.<\/p>\n Kupor pushed back against the lawmakers\u2019 concerns, arguing that job stability is not \u201cthe most compelling message\u201d for early-career employees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe may disagree on this, but I think what young people want is to build their careers. They want to learn. They want to be surrounded by smart people. They want to be in an environment where they can actually progress and be recognized for that,\u201d Kupor said. \u201cThat\u2019s why the early-career push is exactly consistent with our push around performance management culture.\u201d<\/p>\n The OPM director also alluded to the Trump administration\u2019s plans to create a performance management system that \u201ccan actually hold people accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n