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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced plans a 43% workforce reduction.

In a statement, the SBA said it was enacting a “strategic reorganization will begin a turnaround for the agency by restoring the efficiency of the first Trump administration, as well as its focus on promoting small businesses.” The positions being terminated will include “redundant pandemic-era positions associated exclusively with processing pandemic-era loans within the Office of Capital Access,” adding the SBA staff nearly doubled in size during the Biden administration.

The agency said it will eliminate approximately 2,700 active positions out of a 6,500-member workforce through voluntary resignations, the expiration of COVID-era and other term appointments, and a limited number of reductions in force. The SBA added the average salary of its employees is over $132,000 and the reduction in the workforce will create savings of more than $435 million annually by Fiscal Year 2026.

The SBA plans to preserve existing staffing levels within the Office of Veterans Business Development and the Office of Manufacturing and Trade while exempting positions in Office of Advocacy and the Office of the Inspector General from termination. In addition to the job cuts, the SBA has set a goal of having 30% of the agency located outside of Washington, DC.

“The SBA was created to be a launchpad for America’s small businesses by offering access to capital, which in turn drives job creation, innovation, and a thriving Main Street,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. “But in the last four years, the agency has veered off track – doubling in size and turning into a sprawling leviathan plagued by mission creep, financial mismanagement, and waste. Instead of serving small businesses, the SBA served a partisan political agenda – expanding in size, scope, and spending. Just like the small business owners we support, we must do more with less. We have therefore submitted plans to pursue a strategic restructuring that will realign the agency and its resources with our founding mission. By eliminating non-mission-critical positions and consolidating functions, we will revert to the staffing levels of the last Trump Administration, which supported a historic economic boom. We will return our focus to driving private sector growth and delivering disaster relief with accountability, efficiency, and results.”