For thousands of federal employees, February marked an unexpected exit from the workforce. Yet, the state of New York hopes to offer the same workers a new opportunity.
On Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the “You’re Hired” initiative, which aims to transition the recently fired public sector federal workers into state service employees. The initiative comes after the Trump administration laid off thousands of government employees in February.
“The federal government might say, ‘You’re fired,’ but here in New York, we say, ‘You’re hired,’” Hochul said in a video message. “Whatever your skills, we value public service.”
Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has been focused on reducing the federal workforce in an effort to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. The Trump administration said public sector workers contribute to federal spending and debt.
In mid-February, roughly 75,000 federal employees agreed to resign after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out a referred resignation letter emailed to civil servants. The email offered two million members of the federal workforce the opportunity to resign.
Over the weekend, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the OPM sent out a similar email that asked workers, 'What did you do last week?'
While the Trump administration continues to threaten and cut the number of federal employees, Hochul encouraged the same employees to join one of the dozens of New York State agencies and visit their web portal.
“Come join our New York State family,” Hochul said.
