Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu said Thursday that her agency has been hearing from Marylanders who expect to be affected 鈥� or already have been 鈥� by the Trump administration’s plans to downsize the federal workforce.
Wu urged affected workers, whether they’re federal workers or contractors, to check out the state Department of Labor’s website. There, Wu said they can find resources to help them, whether they’ve opted for the deferred resignation offer or face layoffs.
The site, she said, “provides information about unemployment insurance benefits and reemployment support.”
“Individuals in Maryland who work in Maryland, who are eligible for unemployment insurance are eligible for up to $430 a week in weekly benefits,” Wu said.
“We have not yet seen surges in terms of unemployment insurance applications. We are starting to see some federal contractor workers who are laid off and are coming in,” Wu said. “It’s early days yet. We are tracking this data.”
Some federal workers may find they’re a good fit for jobs at the state or local government levels.
“Maryland’s economy has been quite strong in many ways, so we do still have a lot of open positions in the state, but we are definitely going to be calling on our colleagues at the job centers around the state at the local level, but we are preparing.”
During the height of the pandemic, Maryland’s Division of Unemployment Insurance struggled to process payments.
“We saw this coming. We have been gearing up. We’ve been hiring additional staff. We are also trying to hire more staff who are able to answer questions and address people’s issues.”
Wu said the recent experience of helping employees based at the Port of Baltimore after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March “helped us learn a lot of things and develop a lot of procedures” to deliver assistance promptly.
Wu noted that not only is Maryland home to more than 160,000 federal employees, but that federal contracts are also an important part of the local economy.
“There were about $11 billion in federal contract dollars spent in Montgomery County” in 2023, Wu said.
The Maryland labor secretary joined Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich during his weekly briefing with reporters.
Referring to the impact of expected job cuts at the federal level, Elrich said, “The economic damage from this disruption, impacts to our county and state, is almost certain to be far greater than just the number of people laid off.”
“Families are being put in impossible positions right now. We’re all focused on supporting federal employees, contractors and others impacted by these changes at the federal level,” he said.
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