Federal workers

Spending by federal workers stimulates local economies. Once they’re laid off, that could affect nearby businesses, like restaurants.

Cutting these jobs indiscriminately will “substantially damage the economy,” experts say.

Workers are surveyed during reference week, the seven days that include the 12th day of the month. February’s reference week happened before a lot of the federal cuts.

Workers have been paid after past shutdowns, albeit late. But there's no guarantee they will after any future shutdown.

There are giant holes to fill, but also a huge pool of people with experience in government who are ready to go.

That's in spite of promises to drastically reduce the number of people working for the government.

The partial government shutdown ended two weeks ago, but thousands of workers still haven’t received their back pay. Restarting an organization as immense as the federal government after an extended shutdown takes time and can be fraught with unexpected delays. Federal payroll processing has been delayed by email backlogs, software glitches and an overwhelming number […]

More apply for benefits as the partial government shutdown drags on.