data that the state publishes<\/a> online has changed since last year.<\/p>\nMaryland has lost about 12,700 federal jobs since the beginning of the second Trump administration, according to a spokesperson for the state labor department, which are not fully reflected by WARN notices.<\/p>\n
The employer with the most employees affected by mass layoff notices during the first half of this year, according to the state records, was the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the National Institutes of Health. The DHHS layoffs occurred in Montgomery, Prince George\u2019s and Baltimore counties, along with Baltimore City. \u00a0Reports show that 2,755 DHHS\u00a0employees were a part of a reduction in force issued on March 31.<\/p>\n
But Maryland’s job losses go far beyond federal workers. Several organizations that typically receive federal dollars, such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, have issued layoff notices this year, in addition to plant closures from companies, that were not likely caused by the federal government.<\/p>\n
Even without the layoffs from federal government agencies, layoffs reported to the state still impacted\u00a0nearly 500 additional employees in 2025 than in the first six months of 2024.<\/p>\n
The full scope of federal cuts and other reductions can’t be determined solely through the layoff notice data, which excludes contractors and employees whose layoffs didn\u2019t need to be reported to the state, such as if the workplace is temporary like a construction site or if employees were a part of more targeted layoffs.<\/p>\n
Two Maryland employment lawyers told The Baltimore Sun that their offices were getting more calls than normal.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur phones are ringing off the hook for federal government employees and for federal contract employees,\u201d Michael Amster, an employment lawyer in Silver Spring, said. \u201cThese are attorneys that really care about what they do and care about their clients and their employees. So while we are very busy, it’s not something that we’re necessarily happy about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew Dansiker, an employment attorney in Cokeysville, said\u00a0consultations with university, hospital, government contractor and nonprofit clients have at least doubled to half a dozen per week.<\/p>\n
In June, Maryland experienced the largest one-month drop in federal government jobs in 30 years with 3,500 jobs lost, according to the state Department of Labor. The state\u2019s workforce decreased by 8,500 in June alone, the department said. Private sector jobs have increased by 5,200 jobs across the state in the first six months of the year, the department said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJob losses among federal government workers, federal contractors, and others have made this a challenging time for many Marylanders,\u201d Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu said in a statement to The Sun. \u201cAlthough Maryland continues to have a net positive gain in private sector jobs for 2025, we know that federal government layoffs can have cascading impacts on the private sector and our larger economy.\u201d<\/p>\n