Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) Layoff — December 2025

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, announced cuts of around 550 jobs — roughly 10% of its staff. The lab’s director, Dave Gallagher, said the reductions are part of a workforce realignment to create a leaner infrastructure and focus on core technical capabilities, and stated the cuts are not a result of the government shutdown. The layoffs will affect positions across JPL’s technical, business and support functions, with employees to be notified about their statuses the following day. The announcement was placed in the context of broader staffing and budget pressures at NASA, including prior workforce reductions across the agency under the Trump administration.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) disclosed this layoff in an official WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice recorded by the CA state workforce agency on October 14, 2025. The notice covers 543 employees in Oak Grove Drive La Canada Flintridge, CA (Los Angeles County), with the layoff effective December 13, 2025.

That is roughly 9% of the 6,000 people Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) employs.

LayoffTalk has tracked 14 layoff events at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) since October 2023, including 543 jobs documented in official WARN filings, with 13 additional events known from news reporting.