Cutting federal jobs could affect nearly 30,000 workers in Richmond
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Richmond and other cities across the country could soon see job cuts by a key employer — the federal government.
Why it matters: Tapped by President-elect Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have vowed to cut what they deem wasteful spending.
- "We expect mass reductions," Ramaswamy told Fox News in November. "We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright. … We expect massive cuts among federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government."
- Ramaswamy also told Axios' Mike Allen last week that federal workers losing their jobs could be good for them because they can move back into the private sector.
By the numbers: About 4.1 % of workers in metro Richmond were federal employees in 2022 — or 28,365 workers out of 688,492 employed people, according to the most recent Census Bureau data available.
- They include IRS workers (the agency has a taxpayer assistance center on 8th Street), FAA staffers, Social Security employees, postal workers and federal judges and other court staff.
Zoom out: Federal employees make up the largest portion of the workforce in, naturally, Washington, D.C. (13.9%), with Huntsville, Alabama (9.3%), and Virginia Beach (9.2%), following.
- In Virginia Beach, more than 75,000 workers are federal government employees. Of note: Federal employees make up bigger portions of the workforce in cities with large military installations.
- Statewide there are 140,000 federal employees, giving Virginia the second highest concentration of federal workers in the nation (California has the most).
Follow the money: The average annual pay for a federal employee is about $106,000, per ZipRecruiter.
- The U.S. has about 2 million civilian employees working across U.S. states and territories per a 2024 Congressional Research Service report, so cutting half the employees, as Ramaswamy has suggested, could save the government about $100 billion annually in salaries.
How it works: Sources tell Axios Musk wants to use AI and crowdsourcing to hunt for waste, fraud and abuse.
- But DOGE isn't a government department: Musk and Ramaswamy plan to set up a nongovernmental entity to try to pull off the entrepreneurial approach to government that Trump envisions.
Reality check: But with federal employees throughout the country — think of your neighborhood letter carrier — it'll be hard for the Trump administration to make real cuts.
- Members of Congress generally are allergic to cutting hometown jobs and government services.