Estimates only run through September, do not include Oct. 1 loss of workers who took deferred resignation, or impact of government shutdown.
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Maryland ends the year with almost 15,000 fewer federal jobs than it had at the start of the year, according to the latest estimates from the Maryland Department of Labor.
The department reported this month that the state lost another 700 federal jobs in September, the most recent month for which estimates were available. That continued an eight-month string of falling federal employment numbers and maintained Maryland’s spot as the state with the most federal jobs lost this year.
Maryland has lost about 9% of its federal workforce since January, falling from an estimated 163,100 federal jobs in the state then to about 148,500 as of September, the department said.
The loss of 14,600 federal jobs in Maryland is part of the larger effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal workforce. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor wrote in a Nov. 21 blog post that while the government had hired “roughly 68,000 people this year … approximately 317,000 employees left the government,” a loss rate more than 4 to 1.
“This is the first time we’re under this kind of threat,” said Paul Schwartz, a retired federal worker and regional vice president for NARFE, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. Schwartz cover Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., for the organization.
The District, Maryland and Virginia lost a combined total of 34,100 federal jobs from January to September. Many Maryland residents work federal jobs in the DMV area — 269,000 Maryland residents were employed by the federal government in 2023, according to a Maryland Labor Department report.
“This Administration started a witch hunt against our civil servants on Day 1, disproportionately impacting Marylanders,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said in a statement. “These men and women have worked under Democratic and Republican presidents. Their only allegiance is to the American people they serve.”
The loss in Maryland could have been worse: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, where the Maryland Labor Department draws its data, revised its August data that originally reported a loss of 2,500 federal jobs in Maryland to a loss of 1,300 federal jobs.
But the numbers are not likely to get better. The September data did not include the deferred resignations that were scheduled to take effect Oct. 1. The so-called “fork in the road” option, offered to federal employees in January, gave them the choice to receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30, according to an email sent to federal employees.
The most recent numbers also do not reflect any effect of the 43-day government shutdown, from October through mid-November, the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Because of the shutdown, employment data was not collected by BLS in October. The state Labor Department said its next report, on November, would be available in January.
“The ongoing loss of federal jobs stands to have a substantial impact on Marylanders who have spent their careers in public service as well as people across the country who count on the services our federal government provides,” Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu said in a statement.
The department has provided support to federal workers throughout both the government shutdown and the shrinking of the federal workforce, offering job fairs, workshops and a $700 emergency loan for laid-off federal workers, among other support, Wu’s statement added.
Schwartz thinks the shrinking of the federal workforce will hurt more than just the affected workers.
“There are three different groups of victims with what’s going on now: It’s the federal employees who lost their jobs, it’s the federal employees who kept their jobs, but are seeing their benefits eradicated, and it’s everyone else who doesn’t understand what they’re going to be losing when they have a federal workforce that isn’t as experienced as you need it to be to be effective,” he said.
Competition for new jobs among federal workers will pose another problem for those who were laid off, Schwartz said. Many skills are niche to specific roles in the government, making the transition to a new role difficult.
“A lot of these jobs that are in the government — you can work your way up based on your skills, but they don’t translate into the private sector as well,” Schwartz said.
The loss of federal jobs is also a blow to Maryland’s economy, as those looking for jobs are not paying as many taxes, he added.
Schwartz was told when he started in the federal workforce in 1973 that he would not be wealthy, but he would have security and benefits from his job. Federal workers today are still not wealthy, he said, but now they don’t have security, either.
“The federal government is there to provide a service, not to make a profit,” Schwartz said. “It’s a dismantling of the federal government that I worked hard for.”