Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order on Wednesday, March 5 to streamline the process for Pennsylvania’s government agencies to hire recently-fired federal employees amid the Trump Administration’s purge of the federal labor force. 

Signed during an appearance at the second annual Commonwealth Job Fair in Harrisburg, Executive Order 2025-01 is designed “to help fill vacancies in important fields like civil engineering, nursing, corrections, accounting, and more.” As part of this initiative, the Shapiro administration will “begin an aggressive effort to recruit federal employees into Pennsylvania’s workforce.” 

The most recent target of Trump administration cuts is the Department of Veteran Affairs, which revealed its size-cutting plans on Tuesday, March 4. The department’s goal is to return its workforce to 2019 levels of just under 400,000 employees, meaning a cut of more than 70,000 is necessary. Headed by Secretary Doug Collins, the VA employed over 471,000 as of December, with 27% being veterans.  

With more federal employees being fired as part of the Trump administration’s plans to scale back the size of the federal government, Shapiro is joining several other states that have plans to bring those who have lost federal jobs into the state workforce. 

“If they’re qualified and they want to serve Pennsylvanians, well hear me on this, we want you on our team,” Shapiro said at Pennsylvania’s second annual Commonwealth Job Fair in Harrisburg. “They made dramatic cuts, cuts that I think make us less safe and less healthy and less protected in the United States of America. My job is to make sure the good people of Pennsylvania get the critical services they deserve, and the way I can deliver those services is through the 80,000-strong employees of our commonwealth who do this work every day.” 

More than 100,000 federal employees are from Pennsylvania, according to Shapiro, and his executive order is meant to fill 5,600 critically vacant positions for nurses, civil engineers, accountants and emergency workers. “I want to fill these vacancies, I want to fill them with federal workers who are looking for a great place to work where they will be respected and their skills will be used to help out fellow Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said. 

Also part of Shapiro’s executive order is the creation of a new website for former federal employees which provides an overview of the hiring process, information on civil vs. non-civil service jobs and generally compares equivalencies between federal and state positions.  

While Shapiro said the goal of this order isn’t to expand the state government, others are concerned about its effects. Nathan Benefield of the Conservative Commonwealth Foundation said that the order “doesn’t seem to be in the taxpayer’s interest to go and try to hire federal workers for jobs they may or may not be qualified for ahead of regular Pennsylvanians who have experience in the private sector, especially in a time when we have a state budget deficit.”  

Similarly, Republic leadership in Pennsylvania has expressed skepticism over Shapiro’s efforts. Republican State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward commented on social media that “Governor Shapiro should focus on finding efficiencies in PA government as opposed to fighting the federal government for the sake of fighting President Trump.”  

Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana County) said in an emailed statement that “We must be thoughtful and deliberative when looking to fill state positions. Hiring the most qualified individuals should always be our focus, which does not require any executive order.”  

When asked if he was concerned that federal cuts would make it difficult for his administration or Pennsylvania residents to access federal services, Shapiro said “I think that’s a question for the Trump Administration.” 

Contentions between Democratic and Republican elements of Pennsylvania’s government over Shapiro’s executive order are emblematic of larger conflicts between Democrats and Republicans amid the Trump administration, chiefly on how much to contend Trump’s efforts and whether it would be best to work with the new administration. While the Shapiro Administration has made significant progress in workforce development, including eliminating college degree requirements for most state jobs and reducing hiring times, it remains to be seen how it will grapple with federal cuts.