The White House this year lost more than 80 staffers who worked there during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, far above the number who left during the same period of his predecessors' terms.
A report released by the White House this month shows that as of July 1, 474 people are currently employed by the Executive Office of the President, including 16 who do not receive a salary. The equivalent report from 2021 showed 560 employees, with 41 unpaid.
The White House employed 485 staffers during former President Barack Obama's first year in office, which dropped to 466 by 2010. According to the Washington Examiner, former President Donald Trump's White House employed 377 people when he entered office in 2017 and 372 in 2018.
Senior White House officials told the news outlet that the turnover rate is about the same as the first two years of Obama's during that period of his presidency, saying that of 498 staffers brought into the White House in 2021, excluding those who were hired temporarily, 146 left for a turnover rate of 29%; 127 of 455 White House staffers who had worked there in 2009 left their positions in 2010 for a turnover rate of 28%.
White House officials also noted that many of the departures in 2022 were nonpermanent staffers, such as 36 people on the president’s Supreme Court Commission, who had been included in the previous year's report.
An unnamed senior official in the Democratic Party told the Examiner that the number of departures is "not altogether unsurprising. Looking at all of the difficulties the president is facing, from inflation to the war in Ukraine to members of his own party refusing to advance his legislative agenda, it makes sense that some staffers might seek greener pastures."
The official also noted that many of those staffers have left to help with Democratic campaigns before the midterm elections.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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