Press Release: Work for America Releases New Data Showing Where Fired Federal Workers Landed
Civic Match hiring platform updated to meet ongoing demand for top public sector talent in hard-to-staff roles across states and cities nationwide
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sophie McGrath, sophie@workforamerica.org
Date: Monday, February 9, 2026
BROOKLYN, NY – As the one-year anniversary of large-scale federal workforce cuts approaches, Work for America (WFA) released new data illustrating where displaced federal workers landed, alongside updates to its Civic Match hiring platform that helps connect that talent to state and local government roles.
New Civic Match data shows that many of the federal workers laid off in February 2025 have stayed in public service, moving into state and local government roles where their expertise is urgently needed. To date, 187 Civic Match candidates have landed roles across 36 cities, 24 counties, and 32 state governments.
“State and local governments became the place where experienced public servants chose to keep serving,” said Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director of Work for America. “Our data shows a workforce that stayed committed and governments that were ready to step up. Civic Match was built to connect that talent to real needs on the ground, and it now reflects how people actually move into public service today.”
The Civic Match placement data released today provides one of the only national views into how public-sector capacity has shifted following the layoffs.
Key findings include:
Scale and reach: 12,000+ public servants have uploaded resumes to Civic Match and accessed jobseeker resources, and 258 city, county, and state governments have used the platform, with 1 in 5 who have posted a job making at least one hire;
Keeping talent in public service: 187 displaced federal workers have landed state or local government roles through Civic Match, roughly one placement every two days since launching;
Tenured talent: Nearly two-thirds of hires brought 8+ years of public-sector experience, underscoring the depth of expertise moving into state and local government;
Ready to move: 1 in 3 Civic Match hires relocated to a different state, with 10% moving over 2,000 miles to continue their public service careers;
Where the talent landed: Roughly 40% of hires were in human resources, finance, or other key operations roles - positions cities and states often struggle to recruit for and that directly shape hiring, budgeting, and service delivery. Additional placements occurred across public health and human services, education, workforce development, and other critical functions.
In the absence of any federal tracking system or coordinated effort, Work for America’s Civic Match platform became the primary place where this reallocation of public sector talent was visible and measurable.
Civic Match has grown from a simple intake form into the first AI-enabled, two-sided marketplace for government hiring. It is 100% free for governments and job seekers to use. Informed by a year of real-world use by candidates and government partners, the newly updated Civic Match provides lasting infrastructure for improving local government hiring capabilities and increasing access to public sector roles.
WFA’s new Civic Match platform allows job seekers to more effectively connect to state and local governments navigating urgent, hard-to-fill staffing needs. New platform features include:
Automation and AI-supported enhancements to speed up approvals, candidate profile creation, job posting, and candidate discovery. For example, rather than manually uploading jobs, government hiring managers will now be able to do it with a single click;
Improved matching through smarter search, filters, saved searches, and notifications;
Works across devices, making it usable for candidates and hiring teams wherever they are.
Additional enhancements will roll out in the coming months, including AI-powered match scores, more precise location targeting, and clearer translation of public-sector job descriptions.
With the anniversary of mass federal workforce cuts a reminder of the importance of public service, WFA’s data and Civic Match platform updates offer a forward-looking, solution-driven narrative centered on outcomes, resilience, and the future of government work.
Upon request, Work for America is offering a Civic Match data package highlighting where federal workers have landed, interviews with individuals placed into state and local government roles through Civic Match, and access to WFA leadership to discuss new data, platform updates, and the future of public-sector hiring.
About Work for America
Work for America is a nonpartisan nonprofit working to solve the government staffing crisis by helping state and local governments recruit, hire, and inspire the people they need to deliver for their communities. We believe that public service should be a desirable, accessible, and stable career path for Americans from all walks of life.
From launching Civic Match, a national platform connecting mission-driven talent with government jobs, to helping cities modernize hiring systems and tell a more compelling story about public sector work, Work for America is making it easier for great people to serve, and for communities to thrive.
Our work has been recognized by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and TIME for its innovative approach to rebuilding the public workforce. Read more here.
