More Americans are missing their full-time jobs due to military or civic duties this year than they have in nearly two decades – coinciding with President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and other military branches.
So far this year, there have been 90,000 instances of full-time employees calling out of their full-time jobs to report for military or other civic duties – such as jury duty and voting, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While not all of those absences can be attributed to military deployment, especially specific to the National Guard, at least some of the data can be explained by comparing it to months when the National Guard was being used more.
In January, approximately 22,000 absences were recorded – the highest number so far this year. That same month, the National Guard was deployed to California during the wildfires and Washington, D.C., to assist in the peaceful transfer of power between former president Joe Biden and Trump.
There were approximately 10,000 absence incidents in June when Trump ordered the National Guard and some Marines into Los Angeles to help control anti-immigration protests.
Military-related work absences fluctuate throughout the year. They often spike during certain disaster seasons, for example, during hurricane season, the Washington Post reported.
But 2025 has already surpassed the number of military or civic-duty-related work absences in any year after 2006.
The last time the U.S. saw a high number of this type of absence was in 2006, when former president George W. Bush deployed a large number of National Guard troops to the U.S.–Mexico border, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Trump has threatened to use the National Guard in other cities to help immigration enforcement agents conduct large-scale raids without interruptions and to help local law enforcement curb violent crime.
Deploying the National Guard into a city without the state governor’s consent is a controversial move that has already landed Trump in some legal snafus. A federal judge in California said the president’s decision to federalize the California National Guard this past year was unlawful and violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the government from using the military to conduct domestic law enforcement.
The attorney general of Washington, D.C., has used a similar argument to claim Trump violated laws when he deployed the National Guard into the nation’s capital last month to help control crime. However, unlike individual states, the National Guard of D.C. does fall under federal authority.
However, Trump has vowed to appeal California’s ruling and will likely fight D.C.’s lawsuit. The president has continued to threaten cities, mainly run by Democrats, with National Guard deployment.
In a statement to the Washington Post, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the president “has rightfully deployed the National Guard to cities like Los Angeles, which was ravaged by violent riots… while strengthening small businesses and revitalizing our economy,”
There are more than 430,000 people in the U.S. Army and Air National Guard. Recruitment to the National Guard also increased this past year after Trump signed an executive order that made it easier for individuals to apply to join the National Guard.
