President Donald Trump has extended the Federal government’s hiring freeze on all civilian positions until July 15, according to a Thursday memo from the White House.
The president initially implemented the freeze on Jan. 20, prohibiting the hiring of Federal civilian employees for either vacant or new positions. The initial freeze was set to expire on April 20, but it is now extended to July 15.
The freeze does include certain exemptions for necessary positions, including those in immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety roles.
“Except as provided below, this freeze continues to apply to all executive departments and agencies (agencies) regardless of their sources of operational and programmatic funding,” the memo says.
However, the IRS’s hiring freeze is indefinite. In order to end the hiring freeze at the IRS, the memo says the secretary of the Treasury Department, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) must determine “it is in the national interest” to do so.
A fact sheet on the memo clarifies that once a merit hiring plan has been adopted, “any hiring of employees exempt from the freeze shall be consistent with that plan.” The initial freeze directed OMB – in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management and DOGE – to develop a merit-based hiring plan.
“Upon expiration of the hiring freeze and implementation of the hiring plan, agencies will be able to hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from Federal service (with appropriate immigration, law enforcement, and public safety exceptions),” the fact sheet says.
The White House said the freeze aligns with its efforts to shrink the Federal workforce and ensure “taxpayer dollars are used efficiently.”
The Defense Department is operating under its own hiring freeze, implemented last month by Secretary Pete Hegseth. The freeze has halted the hiring of about 6,000 civilians per month, or roughly 70,000 annually.