A year after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that over 300,000 federal workers and contractors were laid off. One former contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, John Burg, has returned to his previous job and is now doing carpentry jobs outside of Washington. Despite making up just 15% of his previous salary, he feels disconnected from his financial goals. An organization supporting former federal workers, WellFed, estimates that only 25% of their members have found new jobs and at least 50% are still unemployed. In the Washington, D.C. region, almost 10% of the population works directly for the federal government.