Separation from the CDC and its consequences for the public health workforce: findings from the CDC WISE Survey

Since January 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shed more than one-quarter of its workforce through layoffs, contract cancellations, and fellowship terminations, raising urgent questions about the consequences for affected individuals and for national public health capacity.

We surveyed 430 former CDC employees, contractors, and fellows to examine the economic, health, and psychological impacts of these separations.

Among respondents representing over 7300 combined years of public health experience, nearly 80% experienced involuntary separations, and more than half remained unemployed at the time of the survey. Three-quarters faced financial barriers to health care, nearly 80% reported moderate or severe sleep problems, and half experienced moderate or severe psychological distress. Mid-career and early-career professionals and parents with 2 or more children faced the greatest vulnerabilities; retirement, reemployment, and personal financial reserves were protective.

These findings document the profound human costs of federal workforce instability and point to the need for targeted transition support, restoration of affected programs, and sustained investment in public health workforce infrastructure to prevent future disruptions.