Siraj Hashmi of the Washington Examiner compares turnover in President Trump’s Cabinet to recent historical norms.
With the departure of Alexander Acosta as labor secretary, President Trump now owns the record for the highest turnover in his first two and a half years than his five immediate predecessors did in their first term.
Acosta is the ninth Cabinet secretary to leave the Trump administration. …
… The number of departures has been so high that it’s creating a cascade effect that’s costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
According to a 2012 study by the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, turnover for senior and executive level positions in the workplace can cost up to 213% of the person’s salary.
As of 2018, each Cabinet secretary brought in an annual salary of $210,700. By those estimations, that means, between the nine Cabinet secretaries who left the administration through resignation or by firing, over $4 million in taxpayer money is being wasted on turnover costs.
While replacing a rank-and-file employee creates a loss of productivity for a smaller scale position, replacing a Cabinet secretary causes productivity to decrease significantly across the entire agency.
Sure, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the federal budget, but we also need to factor in what the high rate of turnover does to policy implementation.
