Impact of a Federal Shutdown
Monday, March 21, 2011 at 2:04PM
As a politically divided Congress continues to struggle with a federal budget compromise, the specter of a federal government shutdown looms. So what would it mean, especially to Oregon?
A government shutdown would impact most Americans in some shape or form, but federal employees would certainly feel the most acute and immediate pain. In Oregon alone, there are approximately 30,000 federal employees. With Oregon's unemployment rate still above the national average, any government shutdown could throttle an already wheezing economic recovery here.
Federal Workers. During a shutdown, nonessential federal employees may be furloughed. Out of the 30,000 federal employees in Oregon, the Postal Service employs 8,161, the Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, 5,558 employees, and the Department of Defense 4,281 employees.