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Massachusetts launches effort to recruit laid-off federal workers
"We need your skills, your knowledge and your purpose," Governor Maura Healey said. "Come make a difference with us at Team Massachusetts.”
Governor Maura Healey has unveiled a new website to recruit the federal employees laid off in the wake of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Healey’s administration announced the site, mass.gov/fedup, to connect laid off federal employees, or just workers “fed up with the federal government,” with employment resources and job search tools.
“We’re here to support you because we need you. We need your skills, your knowledge and your purpose. What you do makes a difference. Come make a difference with us at Team Massachusetts,” Healey said in a short clip at the top of the site.
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More than 46,000 people in Massachusetts work for the federal government, including for the postal service, in warehouses, in transportation, and in public administration, Healey’s office said. More than 30,000 live in the Greater Boston area, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Through the website, state agencies like the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Transportation have dozens of jobs listed on the MassCareers job board. The site also links to the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s job board for local government positions.
In February, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said 75,000 federal employees took the White House’s offer of “deferred resignation,” the Associated Press reported. At Trump’s order, DOGE also orchestrated the firing of nearly all workers who had been employed for less than a year, or probationary workers. AP said that total amounts to 220,000 nationwide.
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“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been recklessly firing essential public servants who care for our veterans, support our fishing industry, protect consumers, maintain our parks and more,” Healey said in a statement.
The new website also has resources available specifically for veterans, who make up nearly 30 percent of the entire federal workforce. The site links to the state Executive Office of Veterans Services and its employment assistance team.
Mike Slater, who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was laid off from his role as the office manager at the VA Veterans Center in Springfield, he told The Boston Globe. Slater called the firing “a huge slap in the face” after being hired by the center seven months earlier.
“Veterans are essential to the federal workforce, and these layoffs threaten both their livelihoods and the critical services they provide,” Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago said in a statement. “Massachusetts is stepping up to ensure they have opportunities to continue their mission.”
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