US President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday making a new classification of unemployed federal workers so they can be more easily fired if they fail to implement the president's priorities, the White House said. This new classification, called “Schedule G,” will apply to employees involved in policy development, according to a White House fact sheet. These employees will leave office when the president who appointed them leaves office. The White House did not specify how many employees would fall into this new category. Trump hinted at this adjustment earlier this year, saying the federal government would eventually “operate like a business.” The executive order could strip a large number of the approximately 2.3 million federal workers of their job protections, making them effectively at-will employees.

US President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday making a new classification of unemployed federal workers so they can be more easily fired if they fail to implement the president's priorities, the White House said. This new classification, called “Schedule G,” will apply to employees involved in policy development, according to a White House fact sheet. These employees will leave office when the president who appointed them leaves office. The White House did not specify how many employees would fall into this new category. Trump hinted at this adjustment earlier this year, saying the federal government would eventually “operate like a business.” The executive order could strip a large number of the approximately 2.3 million federal workers of their job protections, making them effectively at-will employees.