With federal jobs no longer safe, workers turn to job sites
A whole lot more federal workers are looking for new jobs these days. The job site Indeed reports it saw a 50% spike in applications from current and former federal employees in February, particularly those who work at agencies that have been targeted by Elon Musk’s staff-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Federal jobs used to be considered stable. Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said it’s common for civil servants to stick around for a long time.
“If you go to any government agency and you talk to the career staff there, many will say that they’ve been working in the agency for 40 years, 20 years, 30 years. Turnover is very low in the federal government,” said Pollak.
And it’s unusual to see lots of federal employees applying for new jobs outside the government. But it’s happening now.
Pollak said ZipRecruiter data backs up what Indeed found.
“Federal workers are looking for new jobs. And this is not just the workers who have been cut. … It is a much wider group than that. Many other workers in the federal government are worried that they could be on the chopping block next,” said Pollak.
And many are trying to get out before they’re forced out.
But Andrew Stettner at the Century Foundation said it’s a tough time to be looking for a new job.
“Hiring has really slowed down. We’re seeing college graduates have a more difficult time finding work, we’re seeing the time on unemployment starting to grow. So people are going into that job market,” said Stettner.
Which may have trouble absorbing them. Especially in parts of the country that lose a lot of federal jobs all at once, like D.C.
“And also in other parts of the country where there’s large concentrations of government workers, like Colorado, Hawaii, Alaska,” said Stettner. “We’ve seen the economists in those areas say we do not have enough open jobs that match the skills and talent of people that are being laid off.”