In united-states, yes, but to a limited extent. Of the over two million civilian civil servants employed by the US federal government, the President can only fire about four thousand of them. These 4000 or so positions are listed in the Plum Book. The Plum Book says there are over 7000 positions that can be appointed (and most of them capable of being fired) by the President, but many of those are either perpetually vacant or are effectively career civil servant positions. This site, along with many others, say the actual number is about 4000. The President can appoint but cannot fire some of those positions. These are the non-competitive positions in the federal government's independent agencies. That's not a lot of people, so about 4000 remains the correct number.

President Reagan fired almost all of the air traffic controllers in 1981, and they were merit-based civil servants as opposed to presidentially-appointed civil servants. The loophole for that mass firing was that the air traffic controllers went on strike, thereby violating Federal law that prevents strikes by civil servants.

President Trump attempted to create a new Schedule F that would have increased the number of presidentially-appointable and hence presidentially-firable civil servants by a factor of ten or more. His executive order was never implemented and was rescinded three days into President Biden's administration. However, the loophole President Trump's team found still exists. Congress has tried multiple times in the last two years to close that loophole but has failed each time.

Prior to 1883, when the US wasn't quite a developed nation, the federal government civil service used a spoils system ("to the victor belong the spoils"). This resulted in a lot of corruption, a lot of turmoil, and arguably the 1881 assassination of President Garfield. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 changed the spoils system into a merit-based system, for the most part. Presidents can still appoint top civil service positions, but this capability is limited.

In united-states, yes, but to a limited extent. Of the over two million civilian civil servants employed by the US federal government, the President can only fire about four thousand of them. These 4000 or so positions are listed in the Plum Book. The Plum Book says there are over 7000 positions that can be appointed (and most of them capable of being fired) by the President, but many of those are either perpetually vacant or are effectively career civil servant positions. This site, along with many others, say the actual number is about 4000. The President can appoint but cannot fire some of those positions. These are the non-competitive positions in the federal government's independent agencies. That's not a lot of people, so about 4000 remains the correct number.

President Reagan fired (and blacklisted) almost all of the air traffic controllers in 1981, and these were merit-based civil servant positions as opposed to presidentially-appointed positions. The loophole for that mass firing was that the air traffic controllers went on strike, thereby violating federal law that precludes strikes by civil servants.

President Trump attempted to create a new Schedule F that would have increased the number of presidentially-appointable and hence presidentially-firable civil servants by a factor of ten or more. His executive order was never implemented and was rescinded three days into President Biden's administration. However, the loophole President Trump's team found still exists. Congress has tried multiple times in the last two years to close that loophole but has failed each time.

Prior to 1883, when the US wasn't quite a developed nation, the federal government civil service used a spoils system ("to the victor belong the spoils"). This resulted in a lot of corruption, a lot of turmoil, and arguably the 1881 assassination of President Garfield. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 changed the spoils system into a merit-based system, for the most part. Presidents can still appoint top civil service positions, but this capability is limited.