As Trump shrank the federal workforce, Pennsylvania hired hundreds of former federal employees
A year after Gov. Josh Shapiro streamlined the process for federal workers to get state government jobs, hundreds are working for the state.
More than 800 former federal workers have been hired by the Pennsylvania government in the last year, as thousands of Pennsylvania-based federal government employees quit or lost their jobs.
Pennsylvania’s Office of Administration announced the count this week. It’s been one year since Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order streamlining the hiring of former federal workers to state-government positions.
At that time, the Trump administration had just offered federal workers a deferred resignation program to leave their positions with the promise of several months’ pay. The Trump administration had also begun laying off workers across agencies, touting plans for further workforce reductions.
Pennsylvania employment data showed roughly 4,800 fewer federal government jobs in October, as the deferred resignation program took effect. From January through November last year, the U.S. overall cut 271,000 federal jobs.
“Federal employees bring world-class training and a deep commitment to public service,” Neil Weaver, secretary of the Office of Administration, said in a statement this week. “By tapping into their expertise, we’ve strengthened our workforce and improved the delivery of programs and services that Pennsylvanians depend on every day.”
The 800 former federal employees who now work for Pennsylvania are in law enforcement, public safety, human services, health care, and other areas.
The Office of Administration said it had “moved at the speed of business to implement the executive order and capitalize on the opportunity to hire displaced federal workers to fill existing, funded vacancies in state agencies.”
Pennsylvania partnered with Civic Match, a job-seeking platform focused on state and local government positions, and which hosts virtual job fairs. The platform is managed by national nonprofit Work for America. Since it launched in 2024, the platform has shown almost 900 Pennsylvania job listings.
As of Thursday afternoon, Pennsylvania’s own online job board showed 657 vacancies. They include an aquatic biologist, police cadet, accountant, and an air monitoring equipment specialist.