Elon Musk’s ambitious plan to find $1 trillion in savings in the U.S. civil service has taken a dramatic turn, with reports that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has put the majority of workers worldwide on leave, and plans to lay off at least 1,600 U.S.-based staff.
This move, backed by President Trump’s administration, would cut USAID’s U.S. based workforce to 600, drastically reducing its global presence.
To better understand the potential impact of these layoffs, Rhetorik tapped into its global Professional Genome database – a unique extraction of individual’s professional skills, experiences and responsibilities – to profile, identify, score and target individuals and the companies they work for.
Rhetorik Insights
Rhetorik’s AI-powered Professional Genome identified nearly 10,000 individuals claiming to work for USAID. The most common skills among the workforce include:
- Project Management
- International Development
- Humanitarian Aid
- Public Health.
With 59% of the workforce based outside North America and Europe, these employees have been managing global aid efforts and crisis response. However, as layoffs impact the agency, the broader job market stands to benefit from an influx of highly skilled professionals.
Breakdown of Workforce Skills
Rhetorik analyzed the specific expertise within USAID’s workforce, based on publicly-available social media profiles. For example, an analysis of profiles associated with Agriculture as a skill category and USAID as the employer identifies 4,734 profiles with agricultural expertise, covering areas such as agricultural policy, rural development, food security, and sustainable farming practices.
Rhetorik also analyzed and grouped a set of skills commonly associated with international development, providing further granularity into the types of expertise available across profiles. The most prominent skills include:
- Agricultural Economics
- International Development
- Poverty Reduction
- Famine Response
- Multilingual Abilities
- Humanitarian Aid
- Food Security
- Sustainable Agriculture
- Rural Development
- Global Health
- Development Economics
These skills reflect the wide array of knowledge required for effective international development work, with 5,000 profiles linked to these core professional skills.
Whether organizations are looking for experts in famine relief, agricultural policy, or specialists in nutrition and language translation, the Professional Genome helps identify professionals who meet these criteria.
Analyzing the Workforce and its Distribution
A closer look at the geographical distribution of the USAID workforce suggests:
- 3/4 of USAID employees are based overseas
- 33% of the workforce are based in Middle East and Africa
- 16% in Europe
- Significant representation in Asia Pacific (16%) and Latin America (11%), covering diverse global development projects
The Seniority breakdown of USAID employees indicates the vast majority of staff are classified as non-managerial:
- 64% are individual contributors, handling on-the-ground project implementation and operational roles
- 11% are managers, overseeing teams and program execution
- Only 4% in Director/VP roles, and 1% at C-level, reflecting a highly operational workforce with few high-level executives
Finally, from what we see, the top 5 USAID roles highlight the range of expertise within the organization:
- Finance (16%) – suggests a strong financial management focus, particularly in administering and budgeting aid programs
- General Management and Administration (both around 8%) play key roles in the operational structure
- 6% of employees are in Engineering, Research & Development, contributing to the agency’s innovation and technological aspects in global aid delivery.
- Healthcare and Community Services also constitute a critical function (8%), underscoring USAID’s emphasis on public health and community support.
While the uncertainty of these layoffs present challenges for global aid programs, they also offer an opportunity for businesses and organizations to tap into the wealth of skills that hide behind traditional job titles – expertise that can drive innovation in new sectors. As industries increasingly prioritize social impact and global sustainability, companies in the private sector, non-profits, and international organizations stand to gain from the specialized knowledge and leadership these professionals offer.
The layoffs have sparked controversy and concern, with many calling the move illegal and unconstitutional. Democratic members of Congress have vowed to hold up President Trump’s State Department picks until the administration backs off its restructuring plans. Meanwhile, USAID employees abroad face logistical nightmares as they scramble to return home.
The future of USAID and its workforce remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the skills and experience of its employees will be in high demand as they seek new opportunities in a rapidly changing job market.
