Maryland Leads Nation in Federal Job Losses with 15,100 Positions Cut Since January

Maryland lost another 2,500 federal jobs in August, marking the second consecutive month the state has led the nation in federal job losses according to data released by the Maryland Department of Labor. The August numbers brought the total federal jobs lost in the state to 15,100 since January, when President Donald Trump took office and began his campaign to slash the size of the federal workforce. This year-to-date total also represents the most federal job losses in the United States.

Maryland's economy is heavily dependent on the federal workforce, with an estimated 269,000 Maryland residents employed by the federal government in 2023 according to a https://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/lmi/ report by the state's Labor Department. The state had 158,475 federal jobs located within its borders that year, meaning Maryland has lost almost 10% of its federal jobs since the start of the year. Jake Pannell, a national business representative for the National Federation of Federal Employees, expressed concern about the impact on workers, noting that many former employees have had to leave the region due to the lack of private-sector jobs matching their specialized skillsets.

Federal job losses are expected to continue when September numbers are released. As part of the push to reduce the federal workforce, federal employees were offered a https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/ deferred resignation option on January 28 that would allow them to receive pay and benefits until September 30. Workforce-wide declines are anticipated to appear in job loss data through the end of the year as these positions are officially removed from agency rolls according to a statement from the Office of Personnel Management.

The federal job cuts were the primary factor behind an overall loss of 3,200 jobs in Maryland for August, driving the state's unemployment rate from 3.4% in July to 3.6% in August. Despite this increase, Maryland's unemployment rate remained below the national average of 4.3% for the month. The cuts began on Trump's first day back in office when OPM https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/ issued a memo directing agencies to identify workers still in their probationary period when termination is easier. They continued in February when Trump https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/presidential-memorandum-reducing-size-federal-government/ ordered reductions in force and agency reorganizations aligned with recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency.

Since taking office, Trump has also unilaterally ended https://www.flra.gov/ collective bargaining agreements with some federal labor unions and instituted a https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-hiring-freeze/ hiring freeze that has been extended through mid-October. Approximately 97,000 federal jobs have been lost nationwide since January 2025 according to a https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm September 5 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Lawmakers created an emergency https://dllr.maryland.gov/employment/shorttermloan/ short-term loan program for laid-off federal workers, and the Labor Department established a https://dllr.maryland.gov/employment/formerfeds/ page for former federal employees seeking employment that includes job recruiting events and career workshops.