Fired After 50? 3 Steps Older Federal Workers Should Take Now

Jon Krause Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Wayan Vota quickly saw the problem when the White House issued a stop-work order for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in late January. His economic development work as a

federal contractor for the agency trained him to focus on the numbers.

“I did the math. I was the one who told the company that we were going to have a serious cash crunch and that we were going to have to lay off staff,” says Vota, 52. “But still, when they

laid me off, it was intense. I cried in my teen daughter's arm, which was definitely a wild role rehearsal.”

Like many federal workers who have abruptly lost their jobs this year, Vota recognized that it's not as simple as applying for the same position with a different employer. No other American

business does quite the same work that USAID did, and certainly not at the same scale as the federal agency. “We all have to think about entire new industries to move into, because our

industry doesn't exist anymore,” he says. “And to be honest, the first reaction, of course, is denial. It's fear. It’s shock.”

While he determines what his next career step will be, Vota has launched Career Pivot, an online community of former federal employees working to support each other in their job searches.

The site has garnered more than 12,000 subscribers since it launched on February 1, Vota says.

With more than 2 million employees in 2024, the federal government is the nation’s largest employer. Many of those workers are older adults. According to the Partnership for Public Service,

a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that helps the government recruit talent, more than 42 percent of federal employees were over the age of 50 in fiscal year 2023. That’s higher than the

33 percent share of older workers that make up America's workforce overall.

It's not yet known how many older workers have lost federal jobs due to the ongoing mass layoffs that began in February. What’s clearer is those unemployed workers are being thrust into an

increasingly bleak labor market in which many jobseekers already were finding it difficult to land new roles.

These federal workers also could be competing against their former colleagues for the same job openings. According to a review of its job-search activity, job-listing website Indeed found

that job applications from workers at federal agencies under review by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) surged by 50 percent in February.

The agencies Indeed looked at included USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),

among others. “Applications coming from workers at these agencies spiked by more than 50 percent in a single month, ending February at 75 percent above their 2022 levels,” the report said.

For many of these workers, finding a new job might not happen quickly. It often takes people age 50 and older more time to get hired, due to a host of factors including age discrimination

and the fact that there typically are fewer openings that fit their experience or career goals. Understanding these factors that lead to layoffs can go a long way toward becoming more

competitive in landing a new job.