Here Are Early Signs of Impact From Trump’s Cuts to Federal Workforce

The baseline expectation from Moody’s Analytics is for almost 100,000 federal government positions to be eliminated or moved out of the capital. — The baseline expectation from Moody’s Analytics is for almost 100,000 federal government positions to be eliminated or moved out of the capital.
Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

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By Mark Niquette and Augusta Saraiva

February 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM UTC

Updated on

February 19, 2025 at 10:22 PM UTC

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Thursday’s report on applications for US unemployment benefits may be the first place to see the effects of the Trump administration’s sweep of the federal workforce. That’ll just be the start.

Initial jobless claims are already on the rise in and around Washington, DC, and economists are bracing for broader impact. So far, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have fired more than 10,000 government workers, based on press reports, and about 200,000 other probationary workers are being targeted.