The State of Michigan is starting to prepare unemployment resources for federal workers who may be losing their jobs.
The Trump administration has been trying to downsize the federal government through layoffs, firings, and offering benefits to employees who choose to resign.
Some of those moves have been paused by courts or reversed. But thousands of workers could be affected down the road.
Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Jason Palmer said that’s why the state is launching a new resource website to help them.
“We have indeed seen an uptick in the number of unemployment insurance claims filed by federal workers. So, we wanted to be proactive and get some resources out to federal workers who may be affected by layoffs.”
Palmer estimates there are around 58,000 total federal employees living in Michigan. He pointed out new federal jobs numbers released Friday won’t yet necessarily reflect any major changes in staffing.
As far as Michigan data goes, new unemployment claims have been down overall during the period between Trump taking office and the first week of February.
But that’s mainly before many of the federal staffing shake-ups started occurring.
