More than 7,200 federal employees filed new jobless claims last week as the Trump administration’s layoffs began taking effect during the ongoing government shutdown, according to new Labor Department data.
The department’s Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program reported 7,224 initial claims for the week ending Oct. 11, a sharp increase from 3,300 the previous week and just 600 the week before the shutdown began.
The figures, first reported by Bloomberg News, are released on a one-week delay. The UCFE program provides unemployment benefits to federal workers who lose their jobs “through no fault of their own,” according to the Labor Department.
Layoffs Linked to Shutdown, Political Retaliation Claims
The surge in claims coincides with the first full week of the shutdown and the White House’s plan to eliminate thousands of government positions, an effort officials say is aimed at shrinking the federal workforce.
Russell Vought, the White House budget director, told The Charlie Kirk Show this week that more than 10,000 federal jobs could ultimately be cut in “reduction in force” actions.
President Donald Trump told reporters that “there will be a lot” of job cuts, saying many would affect “Democrat-oriented” employees. “They started this thing,” he said, referring to the budget standoff with congressional Democrats.
Federal Judge Halts Layoffs
The administration’s actions were halted Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Yvonne Illston, who issued a temporary restraining order blocking the job cuts.
Illston said the layoffs were being carried out in a manner “contrary to laws” and accused the administration of exploiting the shutdown to overstep its authority.
“The administration has taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don’t apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like,” Illston wrote.
She added that some employees may not even know they’ve been terminated because layoff notices were sent to government email accounts inaccessible to furloughed workers.
White House Pushes Back
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the president’s actions, saying he “does have the ability and the legal authority to fire people from the federal government.”
Leavitt dismissed Illston’s order as politically motivated, calling the Clinton-appointed judge “another far-left partisan.”
“We are 100% confident we will win this on the merit,” she said.
The administration is expected to appeal the decision as the shutdown, now entering its third week, continues with no sign of resolution.
