The January 2019 government shutdown was the longest of its kind in US history, lasting 34 days before ending on January 25, 2019. A report released by CBO estimates that the shutdown will reduce GDP by $3 billion dollars this year and cost the federal government at least $2 billion in lost revenue. That’s a loss of almost $90 million and $60 million per day, respectively.
Who did it impact?
The federal government employs about 2.7 million people as of last count (non-military employees working full-time). Of those, 800,000 are employed at agencies that lacked funding during the shutdown. At those agencies, about 62% of employees were required to work without pay and the remaining 38% were furloughed, which means they were required to stop work. An appropriation was subsequently passed guaranteeing backpay for both furloughed and non-furloughed workers.
