Washington, D.C

Trump’s federal layoffs could mean bleak outlook for Washington DC

Published

1 year ago

February 20, 2025

Trump’s federal layoffs could mean bleak outlook for Washington DC

The Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs of federal employees already appear to be pushing up joblessness in Washington, D.C., and an economist projects they’ll tip the city into a recession this year.

The developments are rocking an area of the country that traditionally has served as a bastion of steady employment and economic stability through slowdowns or downturns that have roiled other parts of the country.

Nationally, layoffs have remained historically low and forecasters expect solid economic growth this year with little chance of recession.

In the week ending Feb. 15, 1,695 Washington, D.C., workers applied for unemployment insurance for the first time, up slightly from 1,682 the previous week and 619 during the comparable week a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s non-seasonally adjusted figures.

During the four weeks since Trump took office, 5,455 District of Columbia employees filed initial jobless claims – a reliable gauge of layoffs – up sharply from 2,014 in the same period in early 2024. It’s not clear what portion of those are government workers.

But nationally, excluding D.C., the number of Americans seeking jobless benefits through the first four weeks of both this year and in 2024 has totaled about 920,000 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, highlighting an unusual surge in the district.

Last week, a seasonally adjusted 219,000 Americans across the U.S. filed initial claims, up from 214,000 the previous week and underscoring that, overall, layoffs remain low.

Do federal government employees get laid off?

So far, the Trump administration has fired more than 10,000 workers at the departments of Energy, Agriculture, Interior, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs as well as at the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, among other agencies.

The layoffs come on top of about 75,000 workers who have taken buyouts offered by Trump and White House aide Elon Musk, who have said they’re looking to slash government costs and improve efficiency.

Are all federal employees on probation getting fired?

Administration officials have indicated the cuts would include employees still in their probationary periods as well as others. About 220,000 government employees had less than a year of experience as of March 2024, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

The layoffs mark the beginning of “large-scale reductions” in the federal workforce, according to an executive order signed by Trump.

Ultimately, about 400,000 federal workers likely will lose their jobs over the next two years, or about 15% of the 2.4 million members of the federal workforce, estimates Adam Kamins, regional economist at Moody’s Analytics. Many of the targeted positions, he said, will be scattered across the country, slightly slowing growth nationally, but an outsized share – nearly 100,000 – will be in Washington. The nation’s capital is home to slightly less than a fifth of the federal workforce, according to Pew Research.

What is a recession in simple terms?

The job cuts are expected to push D.C. into a mild recession, or declining economic output, that lasts from the second quarter of this year to the third quarter of 2026, Kamins said. He predicts the city’s unemployment rate will rise from its current 5.5% to a peak of 6.5% in mid-2026 and its gross domestic product will contract for six straight quarters.

Nationally, forecasters expect the economy to grow a solid 2.2% this year and put recession odds at just 25%, according to those surveyed this month by Wolters Kluwer Blue Chip Economic Indicators.

“This is a very unusual situation for D.C.,” Kamins said. “It typically is one of the least” vulnerable cities to the ups and downs of economic cycles as a result of stable government jobs that don’t depend on the vagaries of consumer demand.

In fact, under normal circumstances, if Trump’s widening trade war with other countries were to cause a U.S. recession in the next year or two, Washington government jobs could have been viewed as landing spots for laid-off private-sector workers, Kamins said.

The projected 100,000 federal job cuts will also likely mean thousands more additional job losses as restaurants, retailers and other D.C. businesses that rely on sales to federal workers scale back, Kamins said. That could mean new strains for lower-income residents who work in those occupations. The district’s poverty rate was 14% in 2023, compared to 11.1% for the nation, according to Statista and the U.S. Census Bureau.

“A lot of folks are close to the poverty line,” Kamins said. “It’s just going to exacerbate their situation.”

As employees who work in D.C. but live in Virginia and Maryland receive layoff notices, many will likely reduce their spending, slowing growth in those states but stopping short of nudging the areas into a downturn, Kamins said.

How is the US job market right now?

Meanwhile, government workers who lose their jobs are expected to enter a cooling labor market with fewer opportunities. Many specialize in administration, project management or information technology and there are now relatively few private-sector openings in those fields, said Julia Pollak, chief economist of ZipRecruiter, a leading job search site.

“This will be very difficult for many of them,” she said.

Professional business services, a sprawling sector populated with 22.7 million lawyers, consultants, office managers and other white-collar workers, has shed 69,000 jobs over the past year, Labor Department figures show.

What career is most in demand right now?

At the same time, employers are struggling to find finance specialists, cybersecurity workers and administrative health care professionals, Pollak said. Federal workers in those fields, she said, could find plenty of job vacancies at higher wages.

Many federal employees will likely have to leave the region to find work, Kamins said, with some pivoting to new occupations. If a new administration seeks to restore the scuttled jobs in four years, it may be difficult to find employees, he said.

Pollak is more sanguine.

“There are many people who want to serve in the federal government,” she said.

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Washington, D.C

Storm Team4 Forecast: May ends with sunshine and clear skies

Published

8 hours ago

May 30, 2026

Press Room

Storm Team4 Forecast: May ends with sunshine and clear skies

4 things to know about the weather:

Abundant sunshine
Temps slightly cooler than average
No rain in sight — again
Mid-week warmup

May is drawing to a dry, comfortable close, in stunning contrast to the very soggy Memorial Day weather we saw last weekend.

That 10-day stretch of rain put a definite dent in our drought, according to the weekly national drought monitor, but it seems that was the end of the improvement for a while: There’s almost no clouds in sight for the DMV for several days.

Enjoy the many hours of sunshine on Saturday. The high pressure coming in from the Hudson Bay brings a stiff north wind, but the day will also be sunny and comfortable, with highs in the mid 70s.

Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.

The wind will die down after dark, and Sunday morning will be bordering on chilly. Expect widespread mid/upper 40s in most of the D.C. area, with urban centers and bayside communities staying just above 50°. Sunday afternoon will be just a bit warmer, in the mid 70s, but with far less of a breeze.

Highs will be back around 80° for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with overnight lows in the comfy 50s. It’ll be a perfect start to meteorological summer (June/July/August).

QuickCast

TODAY:
Sunshine Abounds, Breezy
Wind: North 10-15mph, Gust to 25 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 70° to 75°

TONIGHT:
Clear Skies
Winds Diminish
Wind: Northwest 10-15 mph
Chance Of Rain: 0%
LOWS: 46° to 54°

SUNDAY:
Mostly Sunny Skies
Pleasant Conditions
Light Breeze
Wind: NW 5 – 10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 70° to 76°

MONDAY:
Partly Cloudy
Seasonable
Light Breeze
Wind: West/Northwest 10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 76° to 82°

Sunrise: 5:45 Sunset: 8:26
Average High: 80° Average Low: 63°

Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.

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Washington, D.C

Man in critical condition after water rescue in Southwest DC

Published

18 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Press Room

Man in critical condition after water rescue in Southwest DC

article

WASHINGTON – A man is in critical condition after falling into the Anacostia River in Southwestern Washington, D.C., Friday night.

What we know:

D.C. Fire and EMS reported the rescue effort shortly after 10 p.m. at James Creek Marina in Buzzard Point.

Crews believe a man fell from the dock into the water.

By 10:30 p.m., crews were able to pull the man out of the water.

Paramedics took him to the hospital in critical condition.

What we don’t know:

Officials did not identify the man who was rescued. No other information was immediately available.

The Source: Information in this story is from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.

Crime and Public Safety

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Washington, D.C

DC’s baseball team faces potential DOJ probe after exec allegedly admitted to religious discrimination

Published

1 day ago

May 29, 2026

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DC’s baseball team faces potential DOJ probe after exec allegedly admitted to religious discrimination

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FIRST ON FOX — Washington, D.C.’s professional baseball franchise could come under Justice Department scrutiny after a viral video showed a team executive appearing to admit to his religious discrimination against a Christian player.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to investigate alleged religious discrimination against players for the Washington Nationals, according to a letter sent Thursday to and first obtained by Fox News Digital.

The letter comes after Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe published a secretly recorded video of Washington Nationals Director of Community Relations Sean Hudson saying the team does not include pitcher Trevor Williams in certain social media promotion.

He cited the player’s public criticism of another Major League Baseball franchise for hosting a drag group mocking Catholics.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging the Department of Justice to investigate alleged religious discrimination within the Washington Nationals organization and across Major League Baseball. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“According to the reporting by James O’Keefe, it appears the Washington Nationals are engaged in unlawful religious discrimination,” Boebert told Fox News Digital in a written statement. “I urge the DOJ to take immediate and decisive action.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said they received Boebert’s letter.

“The Department is reviewing the matter and will evaluate all appropriate next steps. As always, we remain committed to enforcing federal law and protecting civil rights,” they told Fox News Digital.

A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hudson, in the clandestine recording, pointed to Williams’ public objections to the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence — a drag group that dresses as nuns — during the team’s 2023 “Pride Night.

The event also drew condemnation from multiple Catholic bishops, who described it as “blasphemous.”

Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash., on May 28, 2025. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Williams said he found the group’s anti-Catholic demonstration featuring vulgar caricatures of the crucifixion and sacred rituals to be “deeply offensive,” in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron last year. The professional baseball player said he made the decision with his wife to speak out even though it would put “a target on our back.”

“Baseball stadiums should be a place where everyone feels welcomed, like 100%,” Williams said in the interview. “We should all feel welcomed there. But that was clearly against one certain religion. If you don’t draw the line in the sand, who’s gonna do it?”

According to Hudson, that public criticism of the drag group’s performance later affected Williams’ opportunities at the Nationals franchise.

“Because of that we don’t use him on social [media],” Hudson told an undercover journalist in the video. “When they’re like ‘is a hot dog a sandwich’ and the players come up, we don’t ask him.”

CONGRESSMAN SAYS MLB IS OUSTING TREVOR BAUER DUE TO TRUMP SUPPORT, IN LETTER TO ROB MANFRED

Boebert said she is concerned that Hudson’s admission could mean the franchise violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and other protected classes.

“Americans of faith should not face professional repercussions for objecting to the mockery of their sacred traditions,” the Colorado Republican said in the letter. “MLB’s privileged legal position should not become a license for exclusionary practices.”

“Sister Unity” and “Sister Dominia” of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were honored on Pride Night before the MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on June 16, 2023. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

Hudson, in the video, described himself as “far-left leaning” and nonreligious. Meanwhile, he called Williams “super Catholic.”

The Washington Nationals executive also boasted about a Communist Party poster in his office and mused about pushing redistribution of wealth and other leftist agendas during baseball games at Nationals Park in Southeast Washington, D.C.

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“What a cool opportunity for us [Nationals] to also, be a little bit of like, the voice of reason,” Hudson said. “And a lot of people will tell you when I come to a baseball game, I don’t want to think about that s–t.”

“If you’re a sports fan and we piss you off, where else are you gonna go,” he went on. “I don’t give a sh–t.”

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