The Small Business Administration announced it will cut about 2,700 jobs, which make up about 43% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring of the agency.
The SBA, which was established in 1953 to offer resources to small businesses and help administer small business and disaster recovery loans, said in a statement that cutting its workforce of 6,500 people was part of efforts to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels, after the agency played a key role during the pandemic in helping distribute small business aid.
Kelly Loeffler, who leads the SBA, said Friday that the agency is focusing on “ending the expansive social policy agenda of the prior Administration, eliminating non-essential roles, and returning to pre-pandemic staffing levels.”
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“By eliminating non-mission-critical positions and consolidating functions, we will revert to the staffing levels of the last Trump Administration,” Loeffler said in a statement.
The SBA said its loan guarantee and disaster assistance programs, as well as its field and veteran operations, will remain unaffected. The staffing reductions will include voluntary resignations, the expiration of COVID-era and other term appointments and some job cuts.
“Today, SBA announced a 43% workforce reduction, right-sizing the agency to its pre-pandemic staffing levels,” Loeffler wrote Friday on X. “We’re ending the wasteful spending, mismanagement, and partisan agenda of the Biden Admin. Like the small businesses we serve, we will do more with less!”
This comes as the Trump administration seeks to reduce the size of the federal workforce, an effort spearheaded by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
President Donald Trump separately announced Friday that the SBA would take on more responsibility, saying the agency would handle student loans as part of a plan to shift responsibilities away from the Department of Education, which the president is pushing to shut down.
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The SBA “is prepared to work with Congress and the Administration to bring accountability back to America’s student loan program,” Loeffler responded on X.
“As the government’s largest guarantor of business loans, the SBA stands ready to deploy its resources and expertise on behalf of America’s taxpayers and students,” she continued.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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