By: NATALIE WEGER and OLIVIA BORGULA
Capital News Service
Maryland federal contractor layoffs continue rising as the Trump administration makes major organizational changes and slashes federal agency budgets.
More than 3,000 employees at companies that contract with the federal government have received layoff notifications this year, according to a Maryland database.
These layoffs will have major impacts on the state’s economy, according to Daraius Irani, a chief economist at Towson University.
“One of the key pillars of the state’s economy has been the federal government, both in terms of the employment by individuals of the many agencies … and also many of the federal contractors that support the mission of the federal government,” Irani said.
More than 1,100 of the layoffs are from companies in Montgomery County. At least 270 are from Prince George’s County and more than 470 from Baltimore City.
Many companies reporting layoffs worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian assistance around the world. Others worked with agencies like NASA, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Trump administration cut 83% of USAID programs in an effort to move the agency under control of the state department and reduce its staff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 10.
DAI Global, a government contractor that works with USAID, notified more than 500 Maryland-based workers in February that they would be laid off from its Bethesda office. The laid off workers are furloughed with potential to return to work, according to a spokesperson for the company.
In March, the Jhpiego Corporation and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health — university-affiliated groups that also contract with USAID — also notified 237 Maryland workers across both companies they would be laid off.
The layoffs came after the federal government terminated more than $800 million in USAID grants at Johns Hopkins University, cutting 2,200 jobs.
“Today is a profoundly difficult day for our colleagues and for our university, marking a significant loss of exceptional people,” university president Ron Daniels said in a press release on March 14.
The Trump administration’s cuts to federal agencies uniquely affect Maryland because of its proximity to Washington, D.C., Irani said. The federal government employs about 10% of the state’s workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Federal unemployment claims in Maryland were up in the beginning of 2025 compared to the past two years, but dropped starting the second week of March, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
In Maryland, if federal employment were to decline by 30,000 with 10% less in federal spending, the state’s total employment would decrease by close to 100,000, according to the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University.
Job cuts at federal agencies also may disproportionately impact people in marginalized communities and could have a range of impacts on health and safety, according to Irani.
“The types of jobs in these areas were critical,” he said. “The loss of these jobs, especially in areas where there are not a lot of opportunities, or areas that are struggling already … could be devastating to that local community.”
I am a retired Federal Government Electrician WG10 – 2805. I observed that in some jobs contractors outnumber Federal workers. Especially in the maintenance of Federal buildings. This started under President Reagan (Privatization) and was really accelerated during something called A-76 where Federal workers had to keep a written chronology of their activities to see if they could “compete” with an outside contractor from the private sector.
Most studies found Federal workers to be cheaper but in the meantime the old timers were scared into taking buyouts and early retirements and the people who couldn’t retire had another job added to their job description. An Electrician became a Carpenter/Electrician for example. By degrees companies like EMCOR outnumbered Federal workers. This is in Internet technology too. Building guards! Lots of jobs. From a security standpoint it is ridiculous. If Trump started with the Contractors he could have gotten a big portion of workers employed at Federal Government jobs. And then he could have replaced them with Federal workers who are less expensive and have a sense of ownership of the buildings. Contractors don’t. So when the contractors go they will be the ones turning off the lights. The question is, who will turn the lights back on?