Federal workers across the country find themselves under aggressive scrutiny. Despite the close alignment of the state's Legislature and most of its voters to President Donald Trump, Florida is particularly vulnerable: it has one of the largest contingencies of federal jobs in the nation outside of the Washington, D.C., region.
There are about 100,000 federal workers in the state, according to congressional data, representing about one out of every 20 federal positions nationwide.
The make-up of the federal workforce has become an important political and economic issue as the Trump administration has moved fast to eliminate federal jobs during its first weeks in office. Floridians fill a variety of roles for the federal government such as national park rangers, hurricane researchers and veteran’s healthcare workers.
The jobs are spread throughout the state, with the largest numbers in areas with military bases and NASA operations.
It is difficult to know precisely how many federal workers in Florida have had their jobs eliminated. Most of the cuts announced by the White House have been targeted at people who have been in their positions for less than a year, though longer-tenured positions have also been impacted. The administration’s layoff orders are spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is not a formal government agency. It was created through executive order.
Thousands of people have had their jobs cut by the Trump administration’s decisions to institute widespread layoffs across several agencies. About two dozen weather and climate scientists who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Florida lost their jobs in late February. Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation has written a letter warning the job cuts could lead to the state being underprepared for the upcoming hurricane season, which begins June 1.
Active military bases, VA and the Space Coast
There are almost two dozen active military bases in Florida.
Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle is the largest. Its location, along with nearby military installations, supports the largest concentration of military non-uniformed federal workers in the state. The area is reliably Republican and had been represented by Matt Gaetz. He resigned from Congress after his failed nomination as U.S. Attorney General. A special election will be held Apr. 1. Jimmy Patronis, the current chief financial officer of Florida, is the overwhelming favorite to beat Democrat Gay Valimont.
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Voters in Florida’s 6th Congressional District also will select a new representative Apr. 1. Former Rep. Michael Waltz was tapped by Pres. Donald Trump as his National Security Advisor. The district has sent a Republican to Congress for more than 20 years. State Sen. Randy Fine easily won the GOP nomination to face Democrat Josh Weil.
The district neighbors two others with significant federal workforces. Naval Station Jacksonville is one of three U.S. Navy bases in the area. About 33,000 federal workers were in northeast Florida at the end of 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The Tampa-area boasted 27,000 federal employees. MacDill Air Force Base is home to the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for overseeing military operations in the Mideast and Central Asia, and Special Operations Command.
The Defense Department has cut 5,400 jobs nationwide. However, more than 50,000 are expected to be eliminated.
Tens of thousands of jobs with Veterans Affairs may be in jeopardy, too. An internal memo calls for 80,000 fewer jobs at the agency, according to several media reports. The VA has seven medical centers, nine outpatient clinics and dozens of community based outpatient clinics in the state.
Florida’s Space Coast also has a concentration of federal workers. Decades of NASA investment and activity has fueled the aerospace industry in the region, which serves both government and increasingly private space launches. The space agency said about 5% of its workforce, about 900 people, accepted an offer to resign last month.
Employment data
Overall, three out of every four federal workers in Florida work in areas represented by Republicans in Congress.
The data from the Congressional Research Service shows a higher number of federal government workers in Florida than state employment statistics. That may be due to sampling and estimation differences.
State data indicates a steady but slow increase in federal employment in Florida over the past four years. Federal employment has been holding steady around 160,000 people per month for the past year.
Job growth has been slowing down as the economy fully emerges from the COVID-19 recession. The growth in the overall job market, which is much larger, has been slower than the year-over-year growth of federal jobs since the spring of 2023, yet both continue expanding.
The number of federal government employees in Florida is about the same as the number of people working in the media, telecommunications and data storage industries.
Layoffs of federal workers in Florida have yet to show up in any meaningful way in the state’s job data. First time unemployment benefit filings fell to a two month low for the week ending March 1. The state’s January unemployment rate will be released March 17. It won’t be until the April and May reports that the layoffs announced in recent weeks would be captured by jobs surveys.
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