Federal workers hit by DOGE cuts race to find jobs in ‘dreadful’ market

Ryan Sloane had been working as a public affairs specialist for just over two months at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta when he was “DOGE’d” on Valentine’s Day.

It had taken him eight months jumping through various hoops to join the CDC, leaving behind grueling night shifts at the Weather Channel for the promise of stability and health insurance to fund one last round of IVF with his wife.

After getting the news, he looked at the private sector, where he found the job market to be “absolutely dreadful.”

“Nonstop rejection,” he said. “It’s three rounds of interviews and a writing sample only to get ghosted.” To make ends meet in the meantime, he has started a business pressure-washing porches, driveways and homes.

Sloane is one of tens of thousands in the same boat. Job applications from federal workers have surged dramatically since the beginning of the year, especially among employees of agencies targeted by the U.S. DOGE Service, according to data from Indeed.

At least 24,000 federal probationary employees were fired as part of the Trump administration’s push to shrink the government, according to court filings. A federal judge ruled that roughly 16,000 of the firings were illegal and ordered the workers’ reinstatement, but the administration has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

As the legal battle escalates, many affected workers are ramping up the job hunt. At the end of February, applications from workers at DOGE-targeted agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Agriculture Department and the Federal Aviation Administration had risen by more than 50 percent this year, an unprecedented spike for presidential transitions.

These figures are just a sign of what’s to come: Many more federal employees aren’t looking for jobs yet because they remain in limbo, awaiting court decisions on possible reinstatement and in some cases still receiving severance.

These workers are struggling because they’re “part of a mass phenomenon” and up against many others in the same position, according to Eric Blanc, a labor studies professor at Rutgers University.

While a strong economy could eventually absorb these specialized workers, the current market uncertainty makes it tough even for this smaller wave of job seekers, said Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed.

In particular, the influx of highly educated federal employees – with nearly 70 % holding at least a bachelor’s degree – comes at a time when employer demand for white-collar professionals has softened.

The decline in such jobs has shrunk opportunities in many roles since the pandemic, leaving workers to decide whether to reskill or wait for demand to recover, said Stahle, adding: “It’s possible that we see some people switch careers due to challenges in finding work, but that would take some time to unfold.”

Regional disparities further complicate matters. While hiring rates are back at 2013-14 levels, federal workers feel the pinch more acutely because they are clustered in a few occupations and locations.

Nursing and other health-care roles top the list of occupations held by federal workers, followed by project management and administration and IT.

Data from Indeed shows that the second-most common job title for actively searching federal workers in February was medical-support assistant, a role that can easily transition into the private sector. But going from, say, an IT job in the Education Department to nursing may not be so easy.

Still, some jurisdictions are trying to help. Virginia’s Fairfax County, for example, has been specifically targeting federal workers in its ads for teaching roles, offering streamlined pathways and licensure options to help them transition into education.

For some, a career change may be the only option available. “Those in professional business services, where hiring is slower, may have to acquire new skills to be competitive,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US. He added that those in health care, a growing and resilient sector, may find the transition the easiest.

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, agrees, calling health administration a possible “natural fit for federal workers.”

“Federal workers often have strong organizational, regulatory and compliance experience that aligns well with health care administration roles,” she said. “It also offers a sense of public service and impact.”

And while federal workers are spread across the country, they are most heavily concentrated in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, where they make up almost 43 % of the workforce, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

The issue has also been bubbling up in states such as Texas, Georgia and California, which are seeing a surge in federal workers seeking jobs, raising concerns about regional labor markets absorbing them, according to Indeed data. At the same time, that data shows that federal workers everywhere are increasingly looking for remote-work options and specialized roles that match their skills – possibly making geography less of an issue.

That means that unlike past factory closures that devastated entire towns, today’s displaced workers may not need to relocate to find new jobs, according to Pollak.

Beyond employees directly hired by the government, federal contractors – who outnumber federal workers 2-to-1 – may soon be affected by similar cuts, potentially adding even more competition to an already cooling job market.

Back in Atlanta, Sloane said that he’s going to focus on his new business for now. But he’s not sure he can reenter his chosen career.

“Twenty-two years in communications, two Peabody awards, (an) Emmy nomination and just a wealth of institutional newsroom and communications knowledge does not seem to be as valued to companies as I was led to believe,” he said.