18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies · Minor
Impose a hiring freeze on career officials
Printed page 615 18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies
“Implement a hiring freeze for career officials. A hiring freeze imposes financial discipline on agencies’ personnel costs and reduces agency bloat.”
What has happened
- Done
Executive Order 14356 made the freeze permanent in a stricter form: "No Federal civilian position that is vacant may be filled, and no new position may be created, except as provided for in this order or required by applicable law", applying to all agencies "regardless of their sources of operational or programmatic funding", with every hire to be approved by an agency Strategic Hiring Committee chaired at deputy-head level and reported to OPM, and with Annual Staffing Plans filed with OPM and OMB.
- Done
The Presidential Memorandum of 2025-01-20, "Hiring Freeze", froze the filling of vacant federal civilian positions and the creation of new positions across the executive branch from noon that day, with narrow exceptions for military personnel, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety. The Department of Labor's career hiring was inside it. The freeze was extended on 2025-04-17.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- done: the named object — a hiring freeze on career officials at the labor agencies — is in force and has been continuously since the first day of the administration. The Quote asks for a freeze, not for a particular headcount outcome.
- The freeze is government-wide rather than DOL-specific, which is the usual pattern for this chapter’s internal-management asks; the Department is covered by it either way.
- Order text read at
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-10-20/html/2025-19614.htm.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- Career official hiring at labor agencies
- ID
- 1703