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Staffing Crisis Unfolds at BLS With a Third of Leadership Jobs Now Vacant

By Molly Smith
September 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT
Updated on September 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM EDT


Help is wanted at the Bureau of Labor Statistics — a lot of help.

A third of high-level roles at the agency that produces marquee numbers on US jobs and inflation are vacant, according to the BLS website. While the commissioner role has been temporarily filled, a range of other leadership positions that oversee various aspects of employment statistics and regional field operations sit empty.

Many of those staffers, who had been at the agency for decades, took the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offers in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. That presented a challenge for the agency of roughly 2,000 career employees even before President Donald Trump fired the commissioner last month.

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‘High Priority’

Filling senior roles will be a “very high priority” for the next commissioner as the BLS needs leaders to make hiring decisions, said Groshen, who also co-chairs a BLS advocacy group. Total staffing is down around 20% since Trump took office, she said. But with a federal hiring freeze in place until Oct. 15, it’s unclear whether those lower-level positions, like those responsible for data collection and analysis, will be filled anytime soon.

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