Unemployment claims have spiked massively in the nation’s capital as Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency go to town on government excess.
As NBC reports, “Since Trump has taken office, nearly 4,000 workers in the city have filed for unemployment insurance as part of a surge that began at the start of the new year, according to Labor Department figures not adjusted for seasonal factors.
“In all, just shy of 7,000 claims have been filed in the six weeks of the new year, or about 55% more than in the prior six-week period. Filings rose to 1,780 for the week ending Feb. 8, a 36% increase from the prior week and more than four times around the same period in 2024.”
The general rate of unemployment, by contrast, has remained largely unchanged.
Firings are likely to increase in the coming weeks and months.
“I expect it to go higher, and definitely we’ll be watching it very closely,” said Raj Namboothiry, senior vice president at Manpower North America, the workforce solutions company.
Washington DC had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country in December 2024, standing at 5.5%. The national rate was 4%.
Around 2.4 million people work for the federal government, excluding post office employees, with nearly a fifth of that total employed in the Washington DC area.
President Trump has targeted the federal workforce as part of his plan to shrink government dramatically.
Officials have been told to prepare staff cuts of up to 70% at some agencies, sources say. DOGE has focused on 15 government agencies so far, and dismantled two completely.
The federal workforce has also been offered an unprecedented buyout scheme, which has already been taken up by nearly 75,000 workers.