Following the reduction in the federal workforce, the head of DOGE expresses the need for new hires.
In a bid to modernize and digitalize the public sector, the German federal government is looking to recruit more technicians into the federal administration. This move is part of efforts to strengthen digitalization and modernization in the public sector, particularly through the Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernization (BMDS) initiatives, as seen in 2025 developments.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the tech talent shortage has hit federal agencies in the United States hard. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has lost over 25% of its total workforce and about a quarter of its tech employees under the Trump administration. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also been affected, with reduction-in-force notices sent to 10,000 employees and another 10,000 employees accepting early retirement offers, deferred resignation offers, or voluntary separation incentives.
The Trump administration's hiring freeze, extended twice and currently scheduled to expire on Oct. 15, has not helped matters. Agencies are now searching for tech talent to help improve service delivery. The U.S. Digital Service (USDS), formerly known as the White House's U.S. Digital Service, is one such agency. Acting USDS Administrator Amy Gleason, the current head of the USDS, aims to "kill the clipboard" and "axe the fax" by replacing paper-based processes with modern technology.
CMS, another federal agency, is planning to modernize its legacy IT systems by doing small iterations and looking at buying instead of building. This approach is aimed at streamlining operations and improving service delivery. CMS has also launched a Health Tech Ecosystem aimed at streamlining fragmented health care records. The Health Tech Ecosystem allows patients to share their medical history with providers through a QR code on their phones.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also been affected by workforce cuts. Barclay Butler, the deputy commissioner for operations and chief operating officer for the FDA, mentioned a significant reduction in resources this spring, leading to a layoff of about 3,500 employees at the FDA. Performance at the FDA dropped following the workforce cuts but is starting to recover, according to Butler.
The tech talent shortage has not spared the General Services Administration (GSA) either. The GSA shuttered its 18F tech shop in February. The USDS has also seen a reduction in its workforce, with about 50 employees removed in February.
Patrick Newbold, the CIO at CMS, is focused on attracting tech talent into the federal government, particularly full-stack engineers, cloud engineers, and product engineers. The USDS is also inviting federal employees to join the organization, looking for technologists and legal counsel.
The tech talent shortage in federal agencies is a significant concern, with more than 161,000 employees having left the federal government so far this year. The use of older programming languages like COBOL, which programs more than $1 trillion in annual payments, further complicates the situation.
Despite these challenges, federal agencies are working hard to modernize and digitalize their operations. The future of digitalization in the public sector looks promising, but the tech talent shortage remains a significant obstacle that needs to be addressed.
