Thousands of recently hired federal workers were laid off over the past two days as President Donald Trump and senior White House official Elon Musk escalated efforts to reduce the federal workforce across departments.

Federal employees on probationary status have typically been hired in the past year, and they are easier to fire, as they lack the bargaining rights of career employees to appeal their layoffs.

The findings were across the government: from the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration to the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the agency that oversees the nuclear weapons fleet.

Veterans Affairs said Thursday it laid off more than 1 of about 43 probationary employees across the department, producing an estimated savings of about $98 million.

"This was a difficult decision, but ultimately it is the right call to better support the veterans, families, caregivers and survivors that the department exists to serve," said Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.

The full number of layoffs across the federal workforce is not yet known, but according to publicly available data from the Office of Personnel Management, about 220 federal workers, out of a workforce of 2.3 million, had less than a year of experience as of March 2024.

The U.S. Forest Service, an agency within the Department of Agriculture that manages national forests and public lands, laid off about 3.400 probationary workers, a source familiar with the cuts told USA Today, adding that the layoffs will not extend to firefighters, law enforcement officers, bridge inspectors or meteorologists.

Forest Service employees anticipate that Program A employees, which include people with disabilities and veterans working on two-year probationary periods, will be targeted next, the source said.

A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management confirmed the layoffs in a statement, calling an employee's probationary period "a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement to permanent employment."

"The agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President's broader efforts to restructure and reorganize the federal government to better serve the American people to the highest possible standard," he said.

More than 60 probationary employees at the Department of Education received termination notices across multiple work groups, including the general counsel's offices, special education and rehabilitation services, and federal student aid.

"The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your continued employment with the agency would be in the public interest," a termination notice for a federal student aid employee obtained by USA TODAY states.

Hundreds of probationary employees at the Small Business Administration received similar notices. Everett Kelley, head of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 800 federal workers, criticized the Trump administration.

"These firings are not about poor performance - there is no evidence that these employees were anything but dedicated public servants. They are about power," Kelley said.

Future workforce cuts are expected to extend beyond just probationary workers.

Trump - joined by Musk in the Oval Office - signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at significantly reducing the size of government by instructing the heads of federal departments and agencies to undertake plans for "large-scale reductions in force."

Musk is leading the Trump Administration's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been rapidly moving from one department to another.

"We need to wipe out entire agencies, rather than leaving behind parts of them," Musk said Thursday via video statement at the World Government Summit in Dubai. "If we don't pull out the weeds, it's easy for the weeds to grow back."

Musk and his DOGE team have already moved to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Trump has said eliminating the Department of Education is next.

"I would like it to be shut down immediately. Look, the Department of Education is a big fraudulent business," Trump told reporters Wednesday.