https://portside.org/2025-04-25/100-days-100-ways-trump-has-hurt-workers

The first 100 days of Trump’s second term have been chaotic. Trump along with Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have engaged in a near-daily onslaught of actions to dismantle the federal government and eliminate services and benefits that working families rely upon. Some of Trump’s actions were rolled back days after being announced and others are tied up in legal challenges, making it difficult to determine the full impact of Trump’s policies at this time. But even amid the chaos, these policies still caused pain to working people and the economy: He reduced workers’ wages, made workplaces less safe, threatened workers’ retirement savings by destabilizing the global economy, and gutted government offices that administer fundamental programs covering millions of people in the United States like Social Security and Medicare.

In this report, we identify 100 ways Trump hurt working people and our economy in the first 100 days of his administration. While not exhaustive—actions have been taken nearly every day that impact working people—this list represents most of the actions we have documented in EPI’s Federal Policy Watch, which tracks how the Trump administration, Congress, and the courts are affecting workers’ quality of life.

Cutting workers’ wages and making working conditions worse

During the first 100 days of his administration, Trump has taken actions that reduce workers’ wages and deteriorate their labor conditions. Most directly, Trump reduced the minimum wage for federal contractors, which could cost these lower-wage workers anywhere from 25% to 60% in pay cuts. He also repealed an order directing agencies to prioritize “high road” employers—i.e., employers that agree to pay workers the prevailing wage and provide benefits like paid leave and health insurance—in awarding federal contracts. Trump also eliminated federal incentives for programs that provide workers on federal projects with training opportunities for higher-wage skilled trade occupations.

Further, Trump and DOGE have attacked critical worker protection agencies including those responsible for worker health and safety standards. Specifically, Trump fired nearly two-thirds of the staff (roughly 870 employees) at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an agency created to ensure safe and healthy working conditions. This reduction essentially eliminated divisions of the agency focused on the health and safety of miners, firefighters, and health care workers. Trump also stalled the implementation of a rule that would protect miners from silica exposure, leaving miners less safe and at greater risk for black lung disease. And Trump fired 90% of the staff at an office in the Department of Labor (DOL) who ensure that federal contractors abide by anti-discrimination laws and canceled grants for programs to combat forced and child labor around the world, which also protect jobs and workers in the U.S. by deterring unfair competition from imports produced with forced labor.

Trump also attacked workers’ union and collective bargaining rights and the independent federal agency tasked with protecting these fundamental labor rights. He fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox for “unduly disfavoring the interests of employers”—making very clear his expectation that the NLRB members side with employers if they don’t want to lose their jobs. This is further evident by Trump nominating a partner at Morgan Lewis, the firm challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB, as the agency’s General Counsel. Within the federal workforce, President Trump stripped more than one million federal workers of their rights to organize and collectively bargain. Unions and collective bargaining provide workers with critical leverage to help improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Research shows that high rates of unionization are consistently associated with higher wages and better working conditions for both union and nonunion workers. By weakening workers’ organizing and bargaining rights, the Trump administration has hamstrung key tools for workers to improve their wages and working conditions.

Ways Trump impacted workers’ wages and working conditions

1. Rolled back an executive order requiring federal contractors to recognize existing unions in successor contracts and offer jobs to their predecessors’ employees before hiring new workers.
2. Delayed the defense of a Biden-era rule that made it harder for employers to misclassify workers as independent contractors.
3. Limited federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements.
4. Proposed exempting tipped and overtime income from taxation to benefit employers and high earners who game the system.
5. Rolled back guidance on the rights of student-athletes, remedies for victims of labor law violations, electronic monitoring standards, and noncompete agreements.
6. Terminated the collective bargaining agreement of more than 45,000 workers at the Transportation Security Administration.
7. Rescinded the “Good Jobs” executive order, which aimed to improve job quality for the millions of jobs projected to be created by recent federal investments.
8. Reduced the function of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which provides mediation, training, and facilitation to resolve disagreements between unions and employers.
9. Nominated Crystal Casey, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, to be General Counsel at the NLRB. Morgan Lewis is pursuing the legal challenge that the NLRB is unconstitutional.
10. Terminated DOL grants that fight forced and child labor and promote workers’ rights.
11. Took back an executive order on expanding registered apprenticeships in federal employment or on federally funded projects.
12. Rescinded an executive order that gave 390,000 low-wage federal contractors a living wage.
13. Gutted worker safety agency NIOSH.
14. Stripped the collective bargaining and union rights of more than one million federal workers.
15. Delayed the enforcement of a rule intended to protect coal miners from exposure to silica.

Damage to economic growth and U.S. workers’ purchasing power

In just 100 days, Trump made a series of terrible economic policy choices that undermine the extraordinary strength of the economy he inherited and will make most U.S. workers and their families substantially poorer in coming years. This threat to typical families’ income growth will be acute in the short run as the current Trump policy path leads straight to recession.

Trump’s policies threaten to slow wage growth while also raising prices, constraining workers’ purchasing power—how much their wages can buy—from both directions. Further, those threats loom in the short run because of the high risk of recession directly caused by Trump’s policies, but also in the longer run (after any recession passes) as Trump’s policies will lead to a less efficient and less dynamic economy.

The clearest recessionary threat is Trump’s chaotic implementation of the highest U.S. tariffs in over a century. Even a decisive and clear announcement of tariffs this high would have been bad for short-term growth; it would require overhauling hundreds of embedded global production networks. Further, high and broad-based tariffs (even announced in a decisive and orderly way) are a regressive tax on U.S. households that will significantly suppress consumer spending.

But it is the chaotic implementation of these historically-high tariffs—with tariffs announced, rolled back, or paused in the same day—that is utterly paralyzing for U.S. businesses and households looking to make high-stakes decisions in coming months. Where and whether to build a factory, buy a new home, or take on debt for a new credential all hinge on one’s expectations of what the U.S. economy will look like in coming months and years. Trump’s tariff chaos will freeze many of these decisions, leading to sharp cutbacks in consumer and business spending and pushing the economy toward recession.

On top of the misguided tariff policy, the sharp reductions (likely illegal) to the federal workforce and DOGE’s spending cuts will also squeeze economy-wide spending and contribute to recessionary pressures in the short run. The squeeze on federal spending will become extreme if any significant part of the extensions of the 2017 tax cuts currently working their way through Congress are financed with spending cuts (which Congressional budget resolutions currently call for). These spending cuts are set to fall on extremely resource-constrained households and will lead directly to less spending in the economy. To the degree that the legal uncertainty and chaos associated with DOGE affects business and household decision-making (like the tariff policy has), this is yet another factor that will stunt high-stakes spending decisions in coming months.

Regardless of the depth of the Trump recession, the current policy path would also lead to slower long-run growth in workers’ purchasing power. DOGE cutbacks will hamstring the public sector’s ability to undertake all sorts of key functions that complement private-sector growth. Infrastructure spending will be slower coming online if there are fewer Department of Transportation employees to administer projects. Pharmaceutical inventions will take longer to be approved because of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Tax questions from households and small businesses will take longer to resolve with fewer Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees. Further, the social returns to basic science and research and development activities financed by federal grants are very large, accounting for a significant share of productivity growth in the post-World War II era. A large shock to the workforce that administers this spending, and the actual dollar flows to universities and other research centers is a profoundly anti-growth policy change.

Further, the mass deportations threats that Trump has already begun to implement would be a sharp shock to the nation’s labor supply. This would by itself result in slower growth. Additionally, research has shown that, rather than being a source of competition, immigrant workers are strongly complementary with U.S.-born workers in sectors like restaurants and construction. Sharp cuts to the immigrant workforce would introduce damaging bottlenecks in these sectors. The result would be sharp increases in the prices of food and housing, tamping down households’ purchasing power.

Cuts to key safety net programs like Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will also do large damage to future productivity. Children accessing these benefits are known to perform better in school, have higher educational credentials, earn higher wages when they become adults, less contact with the criminal justice system, and be less likely to draw on income support programs as adults. In short, these programs are an investment in the productivity of the future workforce, and cutting them will lead directly to reduced productivity and poorer economic outcomes.

Ways Trump impacted the economy and workers’ purchasing power

16. Pulled the United States out of an internationally negotiated deal that would have set a global minimum tax on large corporations.
17. Imposed large, extremely broad-based tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico.
18. Undid support for electric vehicle manufacturing jobs and other investments in clean car and truck technologies.
19. Paused disbursement of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including clean vehicle tax credits and investments in more than 240 advanced energy projects.
20. Rescinded an executive order that established a goal for 50% of new car and truck sales to be clean vehicles by 2030.
21. Imposed further restrictions on foreign investment that will discourage mutually beneficial investments from China.
22. Threatened retaliatory tariffs against countries trying to hold Big Tech companies accountable for paying their fair share of corporate taxes.
23. Declared a national emergency under Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962 and levied a 25% tariff on all foreign autos and auto parts and on the non-U.S. content in autos and parts made in Canada and Mexico.
24. Declared a national economic emergency and levied tariffs on goods imports from virtually all U.S. trading partners, at a minimum of 10% but significantly higher for major trading partners.

Attacks on immigrant workers

25. Overturned multiple Biden-era executive orders that made immigration law enforcement more strategic and humane, including one that directed the federal government to prioritize threats to public safety and national security for deportations and to safeguard workers who assert their rights.
26. Issued an executive order that would no longer extend birthright citizenship to all individuals born in the United States.
27. Halted all refugee admissions into the United States indefinitely, subject to review every 90 days.
28. Suspended funding to organizations that provide refugees with assistance on housing, job placement, and other needs during their first three months in the United States.
29. Ended the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One phone app, which provided a process for individuals to make appointments with U.S. immigration authorities and allowed for a more orderly process for individuals to request asylum at ports of entry along the U.S. southern border.
30. Resumed the “Remain in Mexico” program, which requires asylum-seekers to await their U.S. immigration court hearings in (often dangerous) border areas and makes it difficult for asylum-seekers to access attorneys and legal aid.
31. Ended a program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to come to the United States to pursue their immigration cases if they were sponsored by someone in the United States and to be employed with a work permit granting them workplace rights.
32. Instituted what is known as “extreme vetting” in the screening of immigrants and visa applicants to the U.S., to assess if they have views that are hostile to the United States.
33. Rolled back guidance for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP officers to avoid enforcement actions near sensitive locations, such as schools, churches, and health care facilities.
34. Rolled back guidance that limited the arrests ICE agents could make in or near courthouses.
35. Nominated Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, a former governor from a northern state with no experience on immigration issues or with the southern border.
36. Directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to consider a fast-track deportation process for immigrants and restrict the use of the parole process, which is a type of protection from deportation that can also provide work authorization to immigrants who qualify.
37. Signed the Laken Riley Act, which eviscerates due process for immigrants. The law allows immigration enforcement officers to place immigrants into indefinite detention, without access to bail, if they are accused of certain lower-level crimes.
38. Restored the scope of expedited removal to include nearly all immigrants living in the U.S. for less than two years and who are encountered within 100 miles of a U.S. border— the fullest extent allowed by Congress—rather than allowing DHS to prioritize fast-track deportations for those accused of crimes.
39. Issued a memo prioritizing Department of Transportation funding for local governments that cooperate with immigration enforcement.
40. Revoked the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela, impacting more than 300,000 Venezuelans, which will lead to many losing their work permits and workplace rights.
41. Issued a memo that jeopardized Department of Justice grants for state and local sanctuary jurisdictions.
42. Filed a lawsuit against sanctuary policies in Illinois, Cook County, and the city of Chicago.
43. Deputized some law enforcement workers, including IRS criminal investigators, to assist in immigration enforcement and Trump’s deportation effort.
44. Shortened the TPS designation for Haiti, impacting more than 260,000 Haitians, which will lead to many losing their work permits and workplace rights.
45. Drew on a law that was used to justify Japanese internment during World War II to propose a rule requiring immigrants who lack an immigration status to register with the U.S. government to compel them to self-deport.
46. Shortened the Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance eligibility period from 12 months to four months.
47. Revoked protections for 532,000 participants in the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole program, which will lead to many losing their work permits and workplace rights.
48. Citing a Trump executive order issued on day one of the administration, ICE and IRS agreed to share sensitive taxpayer information to go after suspected undocumented immigrants, targeting taxpaying workers who contribute to U.S. social safety net programs.

Attempted illegal federal funding freeze

49. Temporarily froze the payments of more than 2,600 federal programs, such as funding for apprenticeship and job training programs and scientific research grants; Trump sought to block the spending of government dollars that have already been allocated and approved by Congress.

Putting health care at risk

50. Undid an executive order that lowered the cost of prescription drugs.
51. Rolled back an executive order that made health care more accessible and affordable for more people in the United States.

Unleashing chaos and causing inefficiency in the public sector

In the first 100 days of this administration, Trump and DOGE have waged a war against federal workers and the critical services they provide. They have done so under the guise of eliminating government waste, fraud, and abuse or eliminating programs aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). However, Trump’s attacks have gone well beyond targeting specific programs. From attacking the Social Security Administration to cancelling National Institute of Health grants for fighting childhood cancer, Trump has made sweeping changes to the federal sector.

Trump fired thousands of probationary employees, politicized senior career civil servants, and took steps to make it easier to fire federal workers in jobs that are normally apolitical. Further, Trump and DOGE have shuttered entire agencies, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development, and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Under the guise of eliminating DEI programs, Trump fired thousands of public sector workers and closed government offices that oversee federal DEI initiatives, undermining the federal government’s ability to attract and retain a responsive, representative federal workforce.

In addition to attacking the federal workforce, Trump tried to interfere with the independence of federal agencies. He fired members of the Merit Systems Protection Board and Federal Labor Relations Authority, agencies that hear personnel and labor disputes within the federal government. By firing members of independent agencies, Trump has made way for his own appointments that will side with him and his polices, many of which are being challenged in the courts.

Despite Trump’s claims that these attacks on the federal workforce will eliminate waste, fraud, and inefficiency, revoking antidiscrimination and labor protections doesn’t make government more efficient and leaves workers with fewer protections and more vulnerable to political intimidation. Reducing the size of government doesn’t make it less wasteful, it puts a strain on the services it’s required to provide. And impulsively dismantling government agencies won’t root out fraud, but it will degrade the public goods and services we use every day. These actions are intended to foster distrust in the federal government and allow for the dismantling of government services on which millions of working people rely.

Ways Trump attacked the federal sector

52. Nominated Project 2025 architect Russel Vought as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
53. Rolled back an executive order modernizing the regulatory review process.
54. Required every regulation-issuing federal agency to identify 10 potential regulations to be cancelled.
55. Rescinded updates to Circular A-4, which provided guidance to federal agencies on how to assess the desirability of proposed regulations, particularly with respect to how costs and benefits are measured.
56. Directed the heads of federal agencies, in consultation with DOGE, to review all regulations that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction to determine if they should be rolled back or modified.
57. Declared a broad foreign affairs exception of the Administrative Procedure Act, which could prevent the government from taking public input on regulations having to do with immigration and trade issues.
58. Directed federal agency heads to repeal finalized regulations without giving the public the legally required opportunity to weigh in those changes.

Attacks on anti-discrimination protections

59. Cancelled an executive order directing federal agencies to participate in a government-wide strategic plan to promote DEI and accessibility in hiring and other employment practices for the federal civilian workforce.
60. Rescinded an executive order that identified systemic barriers that impede Black Americans’ opportunity to fully participate in educational, economic, and civic life on a level playing field.
61. Rolled back an executive order that directed federal agencies that enforce federal laws that prohibit sex discrimination to also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
62. Reversed an executive order preventing discrimination against LGBTQI+ individuals and families in several areas, including the education system, child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and the health care system.
63. Rescinded an executive order on the use of compensation history in federal hiring and pay-setting processes.
64. Eliminated the White House Gender Policy Council, which was tasked with comprehensively addressing gender-based discrimination, violence, health inequities, human rights, and workplace diversity.
65. Rescinded an executive order stating that all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
66. Rolled back numerous executive orders expressing the federal government’s commitment to racial equity and racial justice.
67. Directed federal agencies to end all DEI and accessibility offices and programs in the federal government.
68. Directed federal agencies to remove all DEI and accessibility related materials from their websites and cancel any related trainings and contracts.
69. Attempted to identify and unwind all instances of federal government recognition of either nonbinary expressions of gender or of transgender identity.
70. Directed federal agencies to discourage private-sector institutions, such as higher education institutions and nonprofit and philanthropic associations, from voluntarily making efforts to improve hiring or other equitable outcomes along lines of race, gender, disability, or other characteristics.
71. Rescinded Executive Order 11246, which enforced anti-discrimination and equal employment opportunity requirements in federal contracting.

Attacks on federal workforce

72. Directed federal agencies to fire probationary employees.
73. Issued a presidential memorandum that politicizes Career Senior Executive Service officials and makes them easier to fire.
74. Instituted a hiring freeze for the federal government.
75. Issued an executive order that prevents the federal government from factoring in race, sex, gender, or religion in hiring decisions.
76. Reinstated Schedule F, which upends longstanding job protections for federal career employees and makes it easier to fire them for any reason.
77. Directed all federal agencies to terminate remote work agreements and require full-time in-person work.
78. Offered deferred resignation to all federal employees.
79. Issued an executive order to reduce federal offices and Federal Advisory Councils that are deemed unnecessary.
80. Closed three DHS offices focused on civil rights and oversight, eliminating internal watchdog offices that assess the legality and effectiveness of the implementation of Trump administration policies on immigration enforcement.

DOGE and Musk as its head

81. Attempted to shut down U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds projects across the globe in several areas, including agriculture, human rights, and health initiatives.
82. Reportedly allowed DOGE to illegally access federal government systems.
83. Directed heads of agencies to develop large-scale reductions to the federal workforce.
84. Required federal workers to justify their work by submitting a list of five things they accomplished each week.
85. Inserted DOGE in the approval and disbursement of federal contract, grant, and loans payments.

Attacks on public education

86. Nominated Linda McMahon, a supporter of school vouchers that would allow public school money to be funneled to private schools, to serve as Secretary of Education, where she is overseeing gutting the Department of Education.
87. Redirected discretionary grant program spending from the Department of Education away from public schools and toward private and faith-based schools.
88. Reduced the Department of Education workforce by half.
89. Gutted the National Center for Education Statistics, which is the primary federal entity that collects and reports data on education in the United States.
90. Shut down several functions of the Department of Education and sent many of its functions to the states.

Attacks on independent agencies

91. Fired 17 Inspectors General tasked with preventing mismanagement, corruption, fraud, and waste of taxpayers’ money in federal agencies.
92. Fired Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels.
93. Fired NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox.
94. Fired Federal Labor Relations Authority Chair Susan Tsui Grundmann.
95. Fired Merit Systems Protection Board Member Cathy Harris.
96. Required independent agencies to submit regulations through the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to assert broad authority over the budget and activities of independent agencies.
97. Attempted to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the only independent agency that ensures consumers are protected in the financial marketplace.
98. Fired Federal Trade Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
99. Tried to dismantle USPS.
100. Tried to dismantle Social Security.

Conclusion

In the first 100 days of his second term, Trump has hurt working people and the economy over 100 ways. From his attacks on workers’ rights to his chaotic implementation of historically high tariffs, and his dismantling of critical federal agencies and the programs they administer, Trump’s actions have left workers with fewer rights and have put the U.S. economy on a path toward an almost certain recession.

While some of Trump’s policies have been stopped in the courts and more are currently being challenged, he has demonstrated a willingness to disregard the rule of law, leaving all working people more vulnerable to the whims of his billionaire advisors. We will continue to track and analyze the actions of the Trump administration on Federal Policy Watch.