Governor Wes Moore announced a new process to simplify the hiring procedures for four types of state government positions on April 18th to support a growing number of Maryland workers affected by federal layoffs.
Maryland experienced job losses across a number of sectors in March, with public sector jobs being hit particularly hard. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, Maryland lost 3,500 public sector jobs, including 2,700 federal government jobs. Several other sectors also suffered losses, including private educational services, construction, information, and real estate, which collectively lost 1,300 jobs.
Maryland added about 2,300 private sector jobs, in areas like health care and finance, but it was not enough to offset the losses.
Moore’s initiative creates a cumulative application process for four types of positions: human resources, procurement officers, accountants and fiscal accounts technicians. This single application allows federal workers to apply for jobs across several agencies and locations in Maryland. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, “applications will be put into an expedited pathway to get considered and potentially interviewed for available openings within weeks.”
Secretary Portia Wu from the Maryland Department of Labor told Capital News Service in an email interview that “Maryland has the second highest concentration of federal workers in the country, and federal contract dollars have a massive footprint in our state.”
“This means that the effects of recent federal actions – layoffs of federal workers, terminations of federal contracts, and grant cancellations – are having an enormous impact across all of Maryland,” said Wu.
Maryland labor reports track employment trends monthly. March’s report is the first to reflect actions taken by Trump’s administration, such as the layoff of federal workers, according to the Labor Department.
Despite statewide gains, different sectors of Maryland’s workforce experienced losses this year; construction lost 1,300 jobs in January and the government sector lost 1,200 jobs in February.
Still, unemployment in Maryland is down in the last seven months. According to the Labor Department, the U.S. seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate has fluctuated from 4.1% in September 2024 to 4.2% to March while Maryland’s unemployment rate has dropped from 3.2% last September to 3% in March.
In February, Moore presented support and resources to help those impacted by federal layoffs in a 5-point strategy.
The state established a website to provide information and resources to those affected. “The Maryland Public Servants Resource Website also offers information on health coverage, housing, food assistance, and legal resources for impacted workers,” according to Wu.
Moore’s office has created partnerships with county leaders to direct federal workers to recruitment events in their local communities. They also launched a partnership with Work for America’s Civic Match platform, a nonpartisan program that connects federal workers with government roles across the country. The partnership is intended to direct federal workers to potential employment opportunities.
Teach Maryland, a resource established by the Maryland State Department of Education, created a page for federal workers considering a teaching career, hoping to bridge the gap between Maryland residents seeking employment and the teacher shortage. At the same time, the application process for federal workers in state government agencies has been updated to be able to handle the influx of potential applications.