Federal administrative leave costs hit $9.5 billion in 2025, GAO says
A GAO review estimates $9.5 billion in 2025 salary costs, with the deferred resignation program tied to about $6.7 billion.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
2 min read
Federal administrative leave costs 2025 reached an estimated $9.5 billion in salary payments, according to a new Government Accountability Office review, with most of the total linked to a program that let participating federal workers stop working while continuing to receive pay.
The estimate covers paid administrative leave, an excused absence in which employees keep their pay and do not use their own leave balances. GAO said agencies in its review spent about six times as much on those salary costs in 2025 as they did in 2023.
What drove federal administrative leave costs in 2025?
The main driver was the deferred resignation program, the GAO said in its September 15 report. The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to use paid administrative leave for the 2025 program.
Workers who agreed to take part generally could leave their duties immediately, then remain on pay until they resigned or retired by September 30, 2025. Using program assumptions and internal time-and-attendance records from payroll providers, GAO calculated that roughly $6.7 billion of the $9.5 billion estimate was connected to the program.
Across 2023 through 2025, use of paid administrative leave rose 435%, GAO found. Its analysis drew on payroll records from 76 agencies, including 19 agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers Act, representing about 95% of the civilian federal workforce.
What does the $9.5 billion figure measure?
It is an estimate of salary costs for paid administrative leave at the agencies GAO reviewed. It does not establish the actual cost of leave used specifically for workforce-reduction efforts, or prove whether those efforts met longer-term government savings goals.
GAO said OPM cannot readily and accurately separate workforce-reduction leave costs from other administrative leave because they are reported in the same general category. Without a distinct way to track that leave, federal leaders may lack the data to assess whether government-wide cost-saving targets were achieved, the watchdog said.
Data problems could affect the estimate
GAO also flagged reporting flaws that could inflate recorded administrative-leave use. From 2023 through early 2025, agencies reported 144% more such leave during pay periods that included a public holiday, the review found.
Public holidays are not supposed to be entered as paid administrative leave. OPM has issued guidance meant to address the issue, but GAO said the agency does not plan to go back and correct the historical data already released publicly.
The watchdog recommended that OPM disclose remaining reliability problems in its public data and create a separate payroll-data category for administrative leave used in workforce-reduction efforts. OPM agreed with both recommendations, which GAO listed as open.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.