NPR. This is the indicator from planet money. I'm Darym Woods. I'm Whalen Wong, and it is

Jobs Friday. The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the economy added 143,000 jobs in January. The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the economy added

143,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate nudged down a tiny bit from December to 4%.

Since President Trump took office, there is one group of workers whose job security has been

in the spotlight, and that is the federal workforce. This is a huge and varied group

that includes diplomats, nurses, doctors, custodians, even zoologists. As of January, there were

about 3 million people employed by the federal government. The Trump administration wants

this number to be a lot smaller, and Elon Musk is leading

an unprecedented charge to dramatically shrink the federal workforce, sometimes through brute

force actions, like basically dismantling entire agencies.

The government also extended an offer for employees to quit their jobs.

Per the terms of the agreement, they'll be able to collect their pay and benefits through September without working.

But is this offer even legal?

Just yesterday, a federal judge paused the offer until at least Monday of next week.

Today on the show, an employment lawyer walks us through the

government's deal, which has plunged the federal workforce into confusion and uncertainty.

And we talked to some of those government employees about how they've been weighing this

critical decision to stay or go.

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