SEC Chair Paul Atkins says the agency needs to fill some vacated job roles, defends job cuts

It’s weird. When people leave their jobs en masse, you might find your workplace understaffed. It’s, like, so random and inexplicable.

Paul Atkins, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s newly appointed chair, said the agency is looking to fill vacancies left by departing staffers.

Before he was sworn in a month ago, securities experts anticipated Atkins’ tenure would be marked by a hands-off regulatory approach. And now, there are even fewer hands around.

In a speech before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on Tuesday, Atkins said the SEC has reduced headcount by 15% since the start of fiscal 2025. He noted that “many” staffers “took advantage” of early retirement and voluntary separation options the Trump administration offered government employees, including efforts like the “Fork in the Road” buyout program.

He noted that at peak headcount a year ago, the SEC had approximately 5,000 employees and 2,000 contractors. Now, the agency is “at approximately 4,200 employees and 1,700 contractors,” he said.

But despite saying the agency needs to fill some open positions, when speaking to Congress the same day, Atkins defended cuts to staffing at the agency, saying the SEC is still able to protect markets.

“We miss their expertise but I think we have plenty of expertise there at the Commission,” Atkins said, per Reuters, claiming younger staffers could benefit as open positions turn into career opportunities. “I think it’s good every once in a while to have a house cleaning.” He claimed that contracting cuts have thus far totaled $9 million in savings.

Others are less sure that the agency can weather the staffing reductions seen in 2025 thus far.

In a speech on Monday, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw said the agency was “playing a game of regulatory Jenga,” stressing the importance of institutional knowledge and calling staffing cuts “the first, and perhaps most devastating, Jenga piece to go.”

“This is a dangerous game. We are pulling apart our own regulatory foundation—block by block, case by case, and rule by rule,” she added. “It feels all too familiar to those of [us] who have lived through 2008.”