Trump’s purge of the national workforce has hit hundreds of thousands of workers across the country, with bigger cuts expected soon.
As the Trump Administration continues to fundamentally reduce and restructure the federal government, with major layoffs expected soon, Oregon employment officials are preparing for an influx of unemployed federal workers.
At a virtual press conference Thursday, Oregon Employment Department officials said the agency is prepared for large waves of unemployed federal workers if and when they come.
“What we’re seeing is the impacts could likely be felt more in rural Oregon than in the metro areas,” said OED economist Gail Krumenauer. “That’s just based on where some of the largest portions of the jobs are, as well as impacts to revenue in those areas.”
The OED relies heavily on data provided by federal offices. So far, that information has turned up in a manner consistent with past presidential administrations, according to Krumenauer.
OED has created a website with information for laid-off federal workers. Workers may qualify for unemployment benefits through the state if the federal government was their last employer and they were stationed in Oregon. Lindsi Leahy, director of unemployment insurance, said resources for newly laid-off workers are available at WorkSource Oregon centers around the state.
Since Donald Trump took office, his administration has moved at a furious pace to reshape the federal government and cut spending, largely through the Department of Government Efficiency overseen by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump.
An estimated 200,000 federal employees have so far been laid off, though official figures are scarce. Many of those terminated have been probationary employees early in their careers who lack civil service protections. Hundreds of other people offered jobs with the federal government saw those offers rescinded. This week in Washington D.C., where 20% of the federal workforce resides, unemployment claims were 173% higher than one year prior.
According to the Washington Post, the next wave of cuts is expected to be the most significant. Musk has told federal department heads to submit plans to significantly reduce their staffs by March 13. Among the cuts, a section of the Department of Labor that enforces equal opportunity law plans to reduce its workforce by 90%. The director of the Environmental Protection Administration has discussed plans to reduce the agency’s staff of 16,000 by 10,000. Mass lease cancellations are planned for 110 Internal Revenue Service buildings around the country, many of which provide tax help to citizens.
On Thursday night, a federal judge ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind directives that initiated the mass firings of probationary workers across the federal government, but it was not immediately clear how soon and whether terminated workers would see tangible benefits. The ruling is also temporary, with another hearing scheduled for March 13.
The most recent state data doesn’t yet reflect the cuts taken since Donald Trump assumed the presidency in late January. But last week Washington state saw a 35.7% increase in unemployment claims by federal workers compared to the prior year, according to the Washington Employment Security Department. (Around 70,000 federal employees live in the Evergreen state.)
Nationwide, more than 3 million people work for the federal government, according to Pew Research Center. Of those, around 600,000 work for the semiautonomous U.S. Postal Service. And an additional 1.5 million are military service members.
Federal employees make up around 1.5% of Oregon’s workforce or around 30,000 people. That figure trended slowly downward since 2000, and it tends to be higher around the time of the 10-year U.S. Census, when thousands of temporary employees are added to payroll. With around 7,000 employees, the U.S. Postal Service (which is entirely self-funded and receives no tax dollars) is the largest federal employer in Oregon. The next largest is the Department of Veterans Affairs, with 6,400 employees.
Of the 4,000 Oregon-based employees of the Department of Agriculture, 3,400 work for the Forest Service. And of the 2,700 Department of Defense jobs in Oregon, 1,600 are with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Around 53% of the jobs with the 2,400 Department of Interior are in the Bureau of Land Management. And nine of 10 positions with the Department of Energy are with the Bonneville Power Administration.
Around Oregon, residents have crowded public meetings to express concern and demand action from lawmakers. Thousands have attended Sen. Jeff Merkley’s recent town halls around the state.
Though the state’s most populous county, Multnomah, also has the greatest number of federal employees with 12,229, federal jobs typically represent a larger share of employment in rural counties. Nearly 14% of all jobs in Sherman County are with the federal government. And all of the top ten counties with the highest percentage of federal workers are considered rural.
Federal jobs tend to pay well compared to other sectors. The average salary of a federal worker in 2023 was $92,700, well above the average for all workers in Oregon of $68,300.
Overall, Oregon’s employment rate has remained at historic lows — around 4% — for several years.
