(AURN News) — Federal employees continue to face sweeping shakeups under the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the Elon Musk-led initiative aimed at overhauling the federal workforce.
U.S.-based employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March, a 209% increase from the same month in 2024, making it the highest monthly total recorded this year, according to a new report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
“Job cut announcements were dominated last month by Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] plans to eliminate positions in the federal government. It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert at the firm.
DOGE-led actions over the last two months have been responsible for 280,253 planned layoffs of federal workers and contractors across 27 agencies, the report said.
Challenger called March the third-highest month for job cuts ever recorded, behind only April and May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So far this year, employers have announced 497,052 [cuts], the highest year-to-date and quarterly total since Q1 2009,” the firm said.
The government sector accounted for the bulk of the job reductions in March, with 216,215 cuts at the federal level.
Other sectors with significant March layoffs included finance, with 15,982 cuts; technology, with 15,055; and retail, with 11,709.
“‘DOGE Impact’ leads job cut reasons this year with 280,253, 216,670 in March. Market/Economic Conditions followed with 47,851 job cuts attributed to this reason in the first quarter,” the report stated.
President Donald Trump‘s administration has leaned heavily on DOGE to drive deep cuts in the federal workforce, with March marking the most significant wave of layoffs so far.
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