Jobs site Indeed reports there was a 150% spike in job applications submitted through its platform by federal government workers or recently-fired government workers.

“It’s completely unprecedented. You see that huge spike there and you say something is going on here. In this case, we know what that something is,” said Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed.

That something is the effects of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a Trump administration team tasked with slashing federal spending, including federal government job cuts this spring, and anxious but still employed federal government workers who are now actively looking for other positions.

It may not be easy for many of those professionals to land on their feet right away. They have specialized skills that would normally transition well to the private sector, particularly in the D.C. region with federal government contractors.

But Indeed said job postings from the top 25 federal government contractors are down 15% since Jan. 20, compared to an overall decrease in job postings by all employers on Indeed of just 0.5%.

“Someone might naturally move from the government into a federal contractor or someone with a federal contract, it might be a natural fit. But even those pathways are starting to dry up,” Stahle said.

Bloomberg reported this week that management consulting job postings at the D.C. region’s biggest contractors are down 26% since February. Booz Allen Hamilton alone, the largest government contractor in the D.C. region with 15,000 area employees, has 1,200 fewer job openings currently than it did a year ago.

There was a pullback in job applications by feds on Indeed’s platform in May. Stahle believes there may be a second, much larger wave of feds flooding the job market this fall. An estimated 75,000 federal government employees who accepted buyout packages are currently receiving pay and benefits through September.

Job markets ebb and flow, and longer term federal employees leaving government service will find a more stabilized market for job seeking. Stahle said, short term, it will be challenging.

“If someone is working in a particular field and has a certain level of experience, and now they have to maybe take a job that requires less experience and doesn’t match their background, it might be harder for them to get back to where they were. In the long run, there might be more opportunities, but this may still be something that could, on an individual resume for these federal workers, create long-term challenges,” he said.

Indeed’s full report on the surge in federal employee job applications is online.

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