The Federal Workforce Data (FWD) platform was officially launched by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in early January. It’s available at data.opm.gov and serves as the modern replacement for the older, outdated FedScope system (which is being phased out and will no longer be available after January 28, 2026).
This overhaul addresses long-standing issues with FedScope, such as infrequent updates (often quarterly with significant lags), limited usability, and less transparency. The FWD site was developed in response to commitments made in mid-2025 to improve public access to federal civilian workforce data, especially amid the major workforce changes under the current administration.
Key Features and Improvements
- Predictable monthly updates: Data is now released more frequently and reliably, typically early each month for the prior month’s figures. The initial launch included data through November 2025, sourced primarily from OPM’s Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) system (Status, Dynamics, and Payroll feeds). The next expected release in early February 2026 will contain data for December 2025.
- Interactive visualizations and analytics: Users can explore dashboards with charts, filters (by agency, time period, demographics), and trends. Examples include workforce size/composition, changes over time (accessions vs. separations), compensation, performance/leave, recruitment, and more.
- Downloadable datasets: Full record-level data and structured files (e.g., monthly text files going back to FY 2005) for deeper analysis by researchers, journalists, policymakers, or the public.
- Expanded data coverage: New or enhanced datasets include retirement eligibility, telework/remote work trends, administrative leave, performance ratings, federal hiring activity, union representation, veterans status, education levels, age distributions, location-based breakdowns, and payroll/compensation info.
- Improved transparency and usability: Better metadata, data dictionaries, release notes, and a modern interface built on data warehouse technology for consistency across agencies.
Notable Insights from the Launch Data (as of November 2025)
The platform has highlighted ongoing federal workforce reductions, showing a net change of approximately 219,922 to 220,000 federal employees since January 20, 2025 (factoring in hires minus separations). It also reflects drops in union representation (from ~56% to ~38%) and other shifts tied to recent policy changes. Staffing levels are described as being at decade lows in some reporting.
The launch has been positively received by data advocacy groups (like the Data Foundation) for advancing transparency and usability during a period of significant federal HR transformations. OPM plans ongoing monthly additions of new data, visuals, and features based on user feedback.
