How Trump's return-to-office push affects Pennsylvania's federal workers
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President Trump's executive orders will end remote work for all federal employees, including those in Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: The orders, which also freeze hiring, have left some government staffers confused and scrambling to rework their lives, Axios' Mimi Montgomery reports.
The big picture: The Trump administration wants to overhaul and shrink the federal government, which employs tens of thousands in the Keystone State.
What they're saying: "Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome," Elon Musk, head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, co-wrote in a November op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
By the numbers: Pennsylvania has more than 137,600 federal workers, per the latest U.S. Census data.
- Nearly 15.7% of them have work-from-home arrangements, or about 21,600 people.
- Pennsylvania has the ninth-highest percentage of its federal workforce clocking in from home among states and D.C.
Zoom out: In the Philly metro, around 17% of all workers were working from home as of 2023, per the latest census data.
Meanwhile, return-to-office mandates in Philly have been accelerating in recent years.
- Mayor Cherelle Parker called all municipal employees back to the office full-time last year.
- Some big Philly businesses, like Comcast, have called their employees to spend more time in the office.