As the Trump administration cuts thousands of workers and leaves many more in limbo, the governor of New York sees a hiring opportunity.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday invited federal employees to apply for public-sector jobs in New York State, starting a recruitment effort aimed at workers targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is a cost-cutting effort, not a department. Last month, the Trump administration sent deferred resignation offers to federal employees with the subject line “Fork in the Road,” and Mr. Musk announced over the weekend that all federal employees would be asked to detail their accomplishments or face possible termination.
New York employs about 180,000 state workers but has more than 7,000 unfilled jobs, according to Ms. Hochul’s office, due to the tight labor market and an aging work force.
“The federal government might say ‘You’re fired,’ but here in New York, we say ‘You’re hired,’” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat who has taken an adversarial posture toward the Trump administration, said in a video announcing the recruitment drive. “In fact, we love federal workers. Whatever your skills, we value public service.”
At a State Police graduation ceremony, Ms. Hochul also extended an invitation to any F.B.I. employees who were looking for new jobs, saying that “It would be an honor” to have them. The governor’s office said that the state opened a portal on Tuesday morning with resources for potential applicants but that it was too early to gauge the response.
A spokesman for the White House, Harrison Fields, accused New York officials of trying to “stack their payrolls with more bureaucrats.” He added, “Growing the public sector is not President Trump’s definition of job creation.”