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A new report issued this week by the Stephen S. Fuller Institute at the Schar School of Policy and Government estimates the Washington, D.C., region’s federal workforce shrank by nearly 53,000 employees from December 2024 to November 2025—a contraction not seen in more than two decades.
The remaining federal workforce now stands at 327,100, the lowest level since late 2001, underscoring the scale and speed of the decline.
Compounding the job losses is the economic “knock-on effect in the form of household spending that those jobs support,” said Terry Clower, director of the Schar School’s Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.
He estimated that in addition to the loss of 52,900 jobs effectively triggers another 20,000 job losses across the regional economy as spending falls.
Clower likened the moment as reminiscent of “changes that hit industries in the Midwest in the 1970s,” a comparison that highlights the potential for lasting economic disruption.
The Steven S. Fuller Institute’s Washington Economy Watch report can be found at this webpage.