Federal worker layoffs made up 79% of the 275,240 jobs that U.S. employers eliminated in March, a new report shows.
The executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday that 216,670 of the March job cuts stemmed directly from actions that President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency took to shrink the size of government.
Last month’s job cuts are up 60% from 172,017 in February and 205% from 90,309 in March 2024. It’s the highest number of March job cuts since the firm began tracking in 1989 and the third highest of any month on record.
“It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert for the placement firm.
The company said the highest number of monthly job cuts occurred during the early pandemic in April 2020 when employers eliminated 671,129 positions, followed the next month with 397,016.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that over the past two months, DOGE actions have caused 280,253 layoffs for federal workers and contractors associated with 27 agencies. An additional 4,429 job losses came from nonprofits and health organizations that relied on federal contracts and grant programs that were canceled.
Overall, U.S. employers reported cutting 497,052 jobs in the first three months of 2025, the most since they laid off 578,510 during the first quarter of 2009. That total is up 93% from 257,254 cuts announced during the first three months of 2024 and up 227% from the 152,116 announced during the final quarter of last year.
The report offers the first substantive tally of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb deficit spending and reduce the $36.22 trillion federal debt through widespread government cuts.
Legal challenges have temporarily halted some of the administration’s layoffs and spending freezes, making it unclear how many workers are still getting paid for eliminated positions.
The economic fallout of the layoffs is also unclear and could take months to sort out.
According to some workforce experts interviewed by The Washington Times, the cuts could stimulate growth as former federal workers compete for state government and private sector jobs.
“The sudden shift from federal employment to the private sector or even other government roles can be daunting, but it also presents a unique opportunity,” said Amanda Augustine, a spokeswoman for Careerminds, a global outplacement and career transition firm. “Federal workers possess valuable skills often overlooked.”
Supporters of the DOGE cuts point to figures showing that the Eisenhower administration created 3.5 million jobs after eliminating 170,000 federal workers, the Truman administration created 11 million jobs after cutting 566,000 government jobs and the Clinton administration created 22 million jobs after purging 339,000 positions.
Others note that some federal workers could struggle to compete in a tight labor market with thousands of applicants for every job opening.
“The vast majority of federal workers live outside of the District of Columbia, so the effect on the labor market can depend quite a bit on a person’s region,” said Nathan Mondragon, chief innovation officer at HireVue, a technology recruiting firm based in Utah. “Think of the example of a park ranger who has moved to a rural area with few job opportunities. Their job search is going to be very constrained if their government job is eliminated.”
The Challenger, Gray & Christmas report found that job cuts in most private industries slowed during the first three months of 2025 from the first quarter of last year.
Technology companies reported cutting 37,097 jobs from January through March, down 14% from 42,442 cuts during the same period last year.
Financial firms cut 15,982 jobs during the first quarter, down 44% from 28,715 last year. The media industry eliminated 1,820 jobs, down 74% from 6,931 a year ago.
Government workers should have no problem joining the 85% of Americans who work in the private sector, said Robert Romano, executive director of the conservative Americans for Limited Government.
“There are labor shortages in almost every profession as the Baby Boomer retirement wave continues apace, with almost 1 million of those older than 65 leaving the labor force every year,” Mr. Romano said.
By contrast, the report found that retail industry job cuts surged during the first quarter by 370% from the first three months of 2024. They jumped by 54% for consumer product manufacturers and 28% for automakers over the same period.
According to workforce experts, former federal workers are especially qualified for jobs in growing industries.
Chip Lupo, an analyst for the personal finance website WalletHub, predicts that most laid-off bureaucrats could slide easily into professional services, health care and technology jobs.
“For example, roles in cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation are in high demand, offering an opportunity for former federal workers to pivot into growing industries,” Mr. Lupo said, referring to artificial intelligence.
