Higgins Strategy

From Study VIII, Exhibit 3

Separations peaked in September 2025, the month of the first deferred-resignation deadline

Source. OPM Federal Workforce Data, EHRI Dynamics: separations and accessions files, monthly. January 2024 – July 2026, by month processed.

Method and data

Method. Separations by personnel-action category in the month the action was processed: quits; retirements (voluntary, early-out and other); reductions in force; terminations; transfers out, other separations and deaths. The five bars sum to the month’s separations. Deferred resignations are not a sixth kind: OPM flags them (drp_indicator) across the kinds — mostly quits and retirements — so they are a column of their own, “of which”, and are never added to the bars. Accessions (new hires and transfers in) are the line, on the same scale. Mean pay is annualized basic pay of leavers whose pay OPM publishes.

MonthSeparationsQuitsRetirementsReductions in forceTerminationsTransfers and otherOf which deferred resignationAccessions
January 202419,1156,9585,88301,4944,780029,098
February 202413,6755,5803,24509813,869019,951
March 202415,2325,9704,42701,2903,545016,914
April 202417,8137,1694,03911,9494,655021,603
May 202418,4057,4264,86412,1773,937027,082
June 202421,1007,3865,592142,7835,325038,348
July 202417,7277,2024,09312,5723,859025,339
August 202421,0529,7343,81613,5553,946021,609
September 202420,3187,0054,468104,9233,912020,941
October 202418,6046,2813,63444,6983,987019,297
November 202417,9786,0234,04123,5314,381016,867
December 202423,9275,63513,509121,8752,896021,001
January 202522,2719,1336,87111,8544,412622,325
February 202515,6205,7715,00411,7273,117309,746
March 202522,0849,6617,161242,9192,3191344,889
April 202524,1358,8389,9541773,2761,8901527,193
May 202526,61610,4029,0672534,7412,1534118,953
June 202520,0298,5376,1665023,0511,77346910,070
July 202522,8257,8034,9785,3252,8531,8664807,841
August 202518,3778,3044,4251,3762,3861,8869748,469
September 2025121,01468,53344,1202,3423,6052,41496,40112,017
October 202512,5266,1772,537112,7021,0991,9485,902
November 202519,5847,5055,629894,2632,0983,63811,976
December 202530,1395,70220,517352,3561,52915,4808,381
January 202637,88310,59121,0461093,5442,59313,58415,423
February 202616,9886,5226,7941441,5631,9653,3678,997
March 202621,9918,8318,3781371,7342,9112,53615,100
April 202615,5717,1424,5341341,5352,22652216,021
May 202617,8727,5725,5751242,0692,53214324,325
June 202616,2996,6474,757722,6692,1548116,610
July 202616,6817,3874,9071201,9952,27212519,024

Download s8-07-separations-and-accessions-by-month.csv

Download SVG · CSV. Data and chart licensed CC BY 4.0.

Higgins Strategy. “Separations peaked in September 2025, the month of the first deferred-resignation deadline” Exhibit 3, Every Federal Job (Study VIII). October 12, 2026. https://higginsstrategy.com/charts/s8-07-separations-and-accessions-by-month/