Some workers dismayed by President Trump's federal hiring freeze

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Federal worker Greg Guthrie had held out hope after Donald Trump's election to president that his professed advocacy for the American worker would extend to the federal workforce, too.

That hope diminished after Trump on Monday issued an executive order implementing a hiring freeze across the federal government, with exceptions only for military, national security or public safety personnel.

So while Guthrie wasn't shocked to learn Trump had imposed the hiring freeze, he was disappointed.

"I guess there's a presumption that a lot of people in government are not needed," Guthrie, an information specialist with the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service in Alexandria, said in a phone interview. "But we're pretty lean right now, anyway. Now to say that there will be no new, young workers – that's pretty draconian."

Trump had raised the possibility of a hiring freeze during the campaign. At a news conference Monday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the freeze ensures taxpayers get effective and efficient government and said it "counters the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years."

Statistics from the Office of Personnel Management, though, show that the number of executive branch employees hasn't been this low since 1965, and that the number of employees has stayed more or less steady in the last 15 years.

Guthrie, who is also union officer with the National Federation of Federal Employees, said he didn't understand how Trump could conclude that a hiring freeze was a good idea even before his Cabinet nominees have been approved.

"As a federal worker, it's kind of deflating to be felt like you're unnecessary," he said.