Federal layoffs drag down Maryland employment gains for second month, new numbers show

Maryland added around 4,900 new jobs in April, but labor officials said those gains were dragged down by a loss of 2,600 jobs in the federal workforce in the same month. The Maryland Department of Labor reports that mass federal layoffs and other actions by the Trump administration are “tempering the state’s overall jobs growth,” according to new data. The federal impact was even sharper in March, when the state’s 2,300 new jobs were eclipsed by the loss of 2,700 federal jobs.

Federal reliance: About 269,000 Maryland residents are employed by the federal government, as of late March data. Maryland has the nation’s second-largest share of residents who work for the government, trailing only Washington, D.C.