The recent shutdown is expected to pause the release of key economic data, including Friday’s jobs report, slow air travel, suspend scientific research, and disrupt services across the country. Meanwhile, Trump had earlier threatened to lay off more federal workers if lawmakers did not pass legislation. “We will be looking for opportunities” to reduce the size of the federal government, said White House budget director Russ Vought in an interview.
Non-essential (non-excepted) staff across many agencies are typically laid off, as per previous US shutdown records. These include administrative staff, regulatory inspectors, grant program officers, research staff in discretionary programs, many regional and field offices of federal agencies, and support services. Contract tasks pause, and contractors generally are not guaranteed back pay.
Essential services such as law enforcement, border security, air traffic control, TSA, FBI agents, and certain health and safety functions continue amid the shutdown. Those workers are classified as excepted or essential and must remain on duty, often without pay, until funding is restored. Military personnel continue to serve during a shutdown, but their pay may be delayed unless covered by special provisions.
Thousands of federal positions across agencies like the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, EPA, and Transportation are often curtailed or suspended. In recent forecasts, agencies expect to furlough large shares of their workforce.
During Trump’s first-term shutdown, which continued for 35 days, about 340,000 of 800,000 affected workers were furloughed.
Meanwhile, the US President escalated tensions by warning that the “shutdown could pave the way for irreversible cuts to programs and jobs, to shrink the federal workforce by some 300,000 by year’s end.”