As federal layoffs shake up the public sector workforce, displaced workers look to Boston

Boston Globe

18 hours ago

In the first quarter of 2025, the city received an all-time high of 39,111 applications, a 60 percent jump from the first quarter of 2024. The largest increase has been in budgeting, procurement, and finance positions, roles that are the closest match to many of the shuttered federal positions, said the city's chief people officer, Alex Lawrence.
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'Despite the chaos and confusion playing out, [it's] a real opportunity for the state and local governments across Massachusetts to capture some of this A-plus public sector talent,' said Caitlin Lewis, executive director of Work For America. The nonprofit runs Civic Match, a job portal for state and local government jobs.
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The uncertainty and instability in Washington
have led many former federal employees to rethink what they're looking for in their next job. For many, this means a new perspective on making the move to a local- or state-level role, which before would have seemed like a step down from federal work.
Boston's local government has been particularly visible at a national level, in part thanks to
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'People are excited about working in a local government where they see a strong leader who is willing to stand up for what she believes in,' said Lawrence. 'I think that resonates with a lot of people.'
Anyone looking to move from a federal job to a public-sector role in Massachusetts, though, will likely have to contend with some of the same economic and political factors playing out on the federal level. Boston is grappling with a budget shortfall spurred by a post-COVID drop in commercial property values — clouding the long-term prospects for employment here. Meanwhile, the state government is in the midst of a
The state government is in the midst of a hiring freeze instituted over what Governor Maura Healey's office has described as 'widespread economic uncertainty at the national level.'
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
But if you want to work in a government job in the US, Boston remains one of the best places to look.
Lewis, of Work for America, said the Civic Match platform has seen about 20 percent of its 9,000 job seekers narrow their search to Massachusetts. Only about 2 percent of those people currently live here, she said.
More than 80 percent of those looking to work in New England on the platform live outside the region. The City of Boston is one of the most active of the 200 cities Civic Match partners with, said Lewis.
State and local governments often struggle to hire for some of their most crucial roles, she said. The influx of new job-seekers as a result of federal layoffs gives them a chance to fill these roles with quality, driven candidates, many of whom have decades of experience at some of the country's largest federal agencies, said Lewis.
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The City of Boston has now received more applications than the number of vacant positions it has, which is not usually the case, said Lawrence. She has also seen that more people, especially those who were laid off with little notice, are open to more drastic career changes to get a paycheck coming in again.
'It is tougher and more competitive than it has been,' said Lawrence. 'We still have a few places that we have very specific challenges filling positions, but it's much less significant than it was a few years ago.'
After taking a buyout from her job as a senior project manager at the Department of Homeland Security, Alexandra Tobolsky and her husband, who worked for the federal government as a contractor, are considering Massachusetts for their next personal and professional chapters.
As the couple looks to become first-time homeowners in their next move from Maryland, somewhere with work opportunities for both of them, a strong, diverse community, a mix of city life and nature, and responsible leadership are all on the wish list, all factors that led them to strongly consider Boston.
'We're looking for where can we build a good life for ourselves, especially not knowing what the next few years are going to hold on multiple levels, and where can we find somewhere that we can still enjoy our lives and feel confident in state and local government looking out for our best interests,' said Tobolsky.
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Boston's cost of living is often cited as a reason that people move away from — rather than into — the region, but Washington is one of the few cities that stacks up relatively well. Someone making $100,000 in the Capitol region would need to make roughly $102,000 to have a similar standard of living here, according to the personal finance website
People who spoke to the Globe about their job search also cited
the rapid changes in the work culture of official Washington amid the Trump administration's recent moves to downsize the government as a reason they were ready to relocate to more liberal-minded Massachusetts.
Tobolsky described daily uncertainty at work:
After taking a buyout from her job as a senior project manager at the Department of Homeland Security, Alexandra Tobolsky and her husband, who also worked for the federal government as a contractor, are considering Massachusetts for their next personal and professional chapters.
VALERIE PLESCH/NYT
'All of it just felt very hard to process, while continuing to do good work,' said Tobolsky.
With jobs frozen at the state level, the Healey administration is adjusting its tack on attracting workers. The state launched a website in March to promote opportunities in Massachusetts for federal workers, including more than 160,000 job postings in the private sector and in local government. Massachusetts officials also began hosting weekly virtual information sessions in April to share unemployment and hiring resources with laid-off federal workers.
'We encourage people from across the country and the world, including those who have been laid off by President Trump, to explore the incredible employment opportunities offered by our businesses and to consider moving to and building your future here in Massachusetts,' a spokesperson for the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a statement.
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Before being laid off, Maura Miller loved her job at the United States Agency for International Development, where she worked for a decade based in Alexandria, Va. Now, she is searching somewhere new to take her skills to and leave federal uncertainty behind.
'If we're able to move, it would be to Massachusetts,' Miller said.
Miller, who emphasized she was speaking only for herself, said she believes in the elected leadership in Massachusetts and would like to be a part of the work being done here, including in housing and education.
'I don't want to move somewhere that's then going to have to make cuts that I would be impacted by again immediately,' she said. 'But my passion for public service has not changed.'
Maren Halpin can be reached at