Gov. Wes Moore (D) decried a new report that showed Maryland lost 25,000 federal jobs in 2025 — the most of any state in the nation. (File photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Loss of 10,000 jobs at the end of the year put Maryland at top of states for lost jobs; Moore blasts Trump for ‘direct shots’ at state
State officials are decrying new federal jobs numbers that show Maryland lost more than 10,000 federal jobs over two months at the end of last year, bringing the total jobs lost for the year to 25,000.
The report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that Maryland lost more federal jobs since President Donald Trump took office than any other state in the nation. In sharp remarks Wednesday directed at the Republican administration in Washington, Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Washington has “broken its pact” with Maryland and with the country.
“Donald Trump ran on a premise that he alone could fix it,” Moore said during the Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday. “What he didn’t tell the American people was that he alone could break it, and the policies that we continue to see from this White House have continued to make all of our lives harder.”
The updated figures reflect job loses from October and November, when the so-called “fork in the road” job buyout took effect, for federal employees who were given the opportunity earlier in the year to resign and receive full pay and benefits until the end of September. State officials said it would be not be until after the deadline when the impact of those decisions would start to be seen.
Federal jobs represent about 6% of the state’s total employment and 10% of the state’s overall wages.
“As I said, months into the new Trump-Vance administration, what is happening to the state of Maryland that these are not lancing blows. These are direct shots. They are direct shots that are impacting every single corner of our state,” Moore said.
The numbers released Wednesday do not come as a surprise. The Board of Revenue Estimates last March projected a reduction of as many as 28,000 federal jobs in the state.
“The numbers are incredibly concerning for a number of reasons,” said Comptroller Brooke Lierman. “One, because they represent not a thoughtful approach to making government more efficient, but a whack-a-mole attack on important federal services.”
Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu called the report “sobering.”
“Unfortunately, they are something we have been discussing, and we have known that this would be coming, and that these would be the first monthly job numbers to reflect the fork in the road,” she said.
Wu cautioned that the numbers, which are in line with earlier state estimates, could get worse because some federal employees “took different versions” of the fork in the road.
“There were individuals, for example, that took some form of deferred retirement or early retirement,” Wu said Wednesday. “Those individuals would have concluded employment at the end of December or perhaps in early January, depending on their retirement. So I think we do anticipate there will be additional sets of numbers and additional impacts.”
Moore touted the resiliency of the state economy including a 4.2% unemployment figure he said is below the 4.6% national rate.
The state has historically benefited from its symbiotic relationship with the federal government. High-paying jobs and federal contracting have often meant the state entered recessionary periods slower. Now that exposure is proving to be a potential weakness.
In September, the state’s unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percent to 3.8%.
The current unemployment rate cited by Moore is higher than the 3.0% rate in January 2023, the month Moore was sworn in. It’s also higher than 3.3% in February 2020, before the start of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Wu said there has not been a dramatic bump in unemployment claims, but called that metric “a lagging indicator.”
Wu also cautioned that some Maryland residents may have been federal employees in the District of Columbia or Virginia, both of which were also hit hard with job reductions. Those employees would file for unemployment benefits in the state where they were employed.
by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
January 7, 2026
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