The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.

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Officials from the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal hiring, met with agencies on Thursday, advising them to lay off their probationary employees, according to a person familiar with the matter.