Senate leaders reached a tentative agreement Wednesday, but Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky held up the vote, calling it "reckless."
Given that it’s unclear how long the budget impasse will last, it’s worth considering how an extended shutdown would interrupt the federal workforce and local economies.
Federal employees account for a relatively small segment of the labor force as a whole, but their presence is more pronounced in some places. The federal government employs just over 2 million civilian employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of federal civilian employees -- about 79 percent -- work outside of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
As of September, states with the highest tallies of civilian federal employees were California (143,000), Virginia (135,000), Maryland (130,000), Texas (115,000) and Florida (79,000). These figures reported by OPM exclude the U.S. Postal Service and select smaller agencies and commissions.
Additionally, when federal personnel records are compared with Labor Department job estimates for September, federal civilians made up nearly 5 percent of Maryland’s workforce -- the highest share of any state. Not too far behind were Alaska, Hawaii and Virginia.
Federal Civilian Share of Total Employment
|
|
Less than 1% |
|
1-2% |
|
>2-3% |
|
Greater than 3% |
SOURCE: Governing calculations of OPM data, BLS nonfarm employment estimates for September 2017
At the peak of the 2013 shutdown, approximately 40 percent of federal employees were furloughed, according to federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The most affected agencies with nearly all employees furloughed were the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A significant portion of other federal employees, however, are exempt from furloughs. The Postal Service, for instance, is not disrupted as it operates as an independent agency. The more than 1 million active-duty military personnel are also exempt. And very few Department of Veterans Affairs or Homeland Security employees are subject to furloughs.
For most agencies, a portion of workers identified in contingency plans are furloughed while others continue to report to work. Those with duties relating to national security, protecting life or property, and providing health care are among those considered essential in OPM’s contingency plan.
Given that agencies and units with agencies have different contingency plans, it's difficult to estimate numbers of affected employees by state.
The single largest groups of potentially furloughed employees are military civilians. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis previously warned that over half the civilian workforce of more than 700,000 employees would be subject to furloughs. States with the highest numbers of military civilians, according to Defense Department records current as of late last year, were Virginia (92,819), California (61,519) and Texas (46,666).
| State | Total Civilian Personnel |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 23,399 |
| Alaska | 4,782 |
| Arizona | 8,859 |
| Arkansas | 3,320 |
| California | 61,519 |
| Colorado | 11,279 |
| Connecticut | 2,500 |
| Delaware | 1,370 |
| District Of Columbia | 12,632 |
| Florida | 30,598 |
| Georgia | 32,822 |
| Hawaii | 18,739 |
| Idaho | 1,472 |
| Illinois | 12,522 |
| Indiana | 10,877 |
| Iowa | 1,431 |
| Kansas | 6,760 |
| Kentucky | 9,949 |
| Louisiana | 5,843 |
| Maine | 7,789 |
| Maryland | 44,082 |
| Massachusetts | 6,292 |
| Michigan | 9,155 |
| Minnesota | 2,286 |
| Mississippi | 8,840 |
| Missouri | 7,424 |
| Montana | 1,290 |
| Nebraska | 4,081 |
| Nevada | 2,401 |
| New Hampshire | 953 |
| New Jersey | 9,985 |
| New Mexico | 6,263 |
| New York | 10,659 |
| North Carolina | 21,133 |
| North Dakota | 1,589 |
| Ohio | 25,510 |
| Oklahoma | 23,831 |
| Oregon | 2,922 |
| Pennsylvania | 23,537 |
| Rhode Island | 4,728 |
| South Carolina | 10,044 |
| South Dakota | 1,278 |
| Tennessee | 5,763 |
| Texas | 46,666 |
| Utah | 14,876 |
| Vermont | 574 |
| Virginia | 92,819 |
| Washington | 31,018 |
| West Virginia | 1,735 |
| Wisconsin | 2,424 |
| Wyoming | 1,064 |
SOURCE: DoD Defense Manpower Data Center.
View federal agency employment data for each state.
