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WASHINGTON — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will lay off 550 employees this week, the latest round of job cuts at the space science center.
In a brief statement released Oct. 13, Dave Gallagher, director of JPL, said the layoffs, accounting for about 11% of its workforce, are necessary to restructure the lab amid uncertain budgets.
“In order to best position JPL going forward, we are taking steps to restructure and establish an appropriate size to ensure future success,” he wrote, calling the layoffs part of a broader “realignment of its workforce” that began in July. The layoffs will involve staff in technical, business and support areas.
“This week’s action, while not easy, is essential to securing JPL’s future by creating a leaner infrastructure, focusing on our core technical capabilities, maintaining fiscal discipline and positioning us to compete in the evolving space ecosystem,” he wrote.
The statement followed a memo Gallagher sent to JPL employees informing them that the layoffs would be announced Oct. 14. Employees will work remotely unless otherwise directed that day. Those who remain at JPL, he wrote, will be “notified of their role in the new Lab structure,” effective Oct. 15.
The layoffs are the fourth to affect JPL staff and contractors since the beginning of last year. In January 2024, JPL laid off 100 contractors, citing budget uncertainties and proposed sharp cuts to one of JPL’s marquee programs, Mars Sample Return.
A month later, JPL laid off 530 employees, about 8% of its workforce at the time, as well as 40 contractors, blaming a lack of finalized fiscal year 2024 appropriations. In November, JPL laid off an additional 325 employees, which the lab said was needed to adjust to projected lower spending levels for fiscal year 2025.
Laurie Leshin, JPL director at the time of the earlier layoffs, said after the November cuts that she did not expect additional ones for the foreseeable future. “After this action, we will be at about 5,500 JPL regular employees. I believe this is a stable, supportable staffing level moving forward,” she said then.
Leshin announced in May she would step down as director, citing personal reasons, and was replaced by Gallagher, who had been at JPL for 36 years, most recently as associate director for strategic integration.
Around the same time, the White House released its fiscal year 2026 budget request proposing steep cuts to NASA science programs, including missions JPL works on such as Mars Sample Return. That led to speculation about further layoffs at JPL.
Gallagher, in both his public statement and memo to employees, said the layoffs were linked to internal reorganization plans dating back to July and were not a response to the ongoing government shutdown. The California Institute of Technology operates JPL on behalf of NASA, and JPL staff are Caltech employees rather than federal civil servants.
Most NASA employees have been furloughed since the 2026 fiscal year began Oct. 1, after Congress failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at 2025 levels into November.
On Oct. 10, Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, announced that the administration would begin laying off employees rather than furloughing them. “The RIFs have begun,” he posted on social media, referring to reductions in force.
He did not specify how many staff would be laid off across the federal government. A NASA spokesperson, contacted Oct. 10, referred questions about any layoffs to OMB. The office did not respond to inquiries submitted Oct. 10.
An Oct. 10 court filing by OMB did not include NASA among the agencies targeted for layoffs. The announcement did list 315 people in the Commerce Department, which includes NOAA and the Office of Space Commerce, but did not specify where in the department the layoffs would take place. A NOAA spokesperson referred questions about the layoffs Oct. 10 to OMB.
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