Thread: 91% Of The IRS Has Been Furloughed: Here Is Who Else Got The Govt Shut Down Axe

91% Of The IRS Has Been Furloughed: Here Is Who Else Got The Government Shut Down Axe

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/01/2013 20:15 -0400

For all the drama surrounding today's political drama (which came and went largely unnoticed by a stock market hypnotized by the Federal Reserve), the bottom line is that the key impact of last night's historic government shutdown has been nothing more (or less) than the temporary unpaid leave of absence, i.e. furloughs (with all accrued, owed payments promptly being remitted once the government is unhalted) of some 815,932 civilian government workers, out of a total of 2 million, or a 41% furlough rate.

As the WSJ tabulates "some agencies, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are seeing all but a handful of their employees go home without pay. Others, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, kept the vast majority of their workers on the job. Certain divisions of government, such as the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Reserve, don’t operate under the normal appropriations process and their staffing remained unaffected."

Then again one wonders: with 91% of the IRS' total 94,516 workers stuck at home, downloading porn, is the government shutdown really such an evil outcome?

The table below shows the total number of furloughed workers by government agency, as well as the furlough percentage. For a sortable, interactive version of the table, visit the WSJ.



Of note: with 98% of the FCC's 1754 employees stuck at home, there has never been a better time to show a live Janet Jackson dance show, or swear like a sailor on live TV.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-1...-shut-down-axe

RELATED

E-Verify is currently unavailable due to a government shutdown

Government shutdown affects commissaries | KHON2

www.khon2.com/2013/09/30/government-shutdown-affects-commissaries/

1 day ago - Government shutdown affects commissaries. By Web ... used by service members and their families, will be closing their doors Tuesday.

1,350,000 'Essential' Federal Government Employees Continue to Work

The federal government is shutdown. That means only federal government employees that are deemed "essential" are going in to work.


We're led to believe it's a bare bones operation (Michelle Obama won't be tweeting, the National Park Service website is down, etc.). But in reality it appears the number of folks working is higher than half the federal employees. Or, in raw numbers, about 1,350,000 "essential" federal government employees are still working. And that does not include the 589,000 postal employees, who are working, too.

That's 63 percent of the federal work force.

Here's how one gets to those numbers. According to the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 2,150,000 non-postal federal employees. (Postal workers make up about 589,000, bringing that totaly to 2,739,000 federal workers.)

Multiple press reports list the number of furloughed federal employees at 800,000. “The federal government's forced shutdown of vast swaths of its operations will send more than 800,000 federal workers home without pay, close national parks and cripple some programs, while leaving essential services up and running,” the Wall Street Journal reports, for instance.

ABC, likewise, reports, “According to government estimates, 800,000 of the more than 2 million federal workers could be furloughed during the shutdown, and the offices that employ them have released contingency plans noting how many employees would be forced to stay home and how many would be ‘excepted.’”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...rk_759071.html

Furloughed federal workers can collect unemployment

10/02/2013
Brad Jones

Federal workers sitting home during the partial federal shutdown — and those already packing for a long weekend — can expect help from the Colorado unemployment insurance fund.

According to a fact sheet on the state’s website, federal workers and even government contractors whose paychecks are interrupted due to congressional impasse can collect payments, though the shutdown must last over a week before doing so.

Claims for unemployment benefits made by federal workers in many ways resemble those for workers victim to the faltering economy. A key difference, though: federal workers must not seek other work, since they’re “job attached.” Colorado law normally requires beneficiaries to show progress in seeking gainful employment and register with a local “workforce center.”

Although the unemployment fund is paid for by taxes levied on employers, a flood of claimants in recent years has depleted its balance, and Colorado sought millions in loans from the federal government to bridge the gap. Last year the state issued bonds totaling $640 million to buy back that federal debt, but employers are still on the hook for paying down the bonds and replenishing the fund.

While traditional employers report earnings to the state for purposes of calculating benefits in the event of layoffs, the federal government does not. Employees would rather have to provide their own documentation about what they earn to the state, which then cuts a check.

The extent to which federal employees would take advantage of unemployment benefits depends on the length of the shutdown and whether Congress is disposed toward awarding back pay to civil servants.

Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran and Republican Rep. Frank Wolf introduced the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act to do that late Monday, according to Federal News Radio.

If the shutdown lasts into next week and a federal worker cashes checks from the state, he would be responsible for paying back those benefits should back pay be granted.
In the second quarter alone, Colorado reported over $203,000 in known fraud and overpayment.

State unemployment compensation guidelines vary.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/02/fu...-unemployment/

Shutdown may idle non-federal workers next week

People across the U.S. say they're shocked at unexpected way the government shutdown is impacting them.

Paul Davidson, USA TODAY 1:42 p.m. EDT October 2, 2013

The U.S. government's partial shutdown is already affecting private-sector workers and will hit harder if it goes into next week.


Chief law enforcement ranger Ralph Jones advises visitors to Cabrillo National Monument that the park is closed on Tuesday in San Diego, Calif., on the first day of of the government shutdown.(Photo: John Gibbins, AP)

Story Highlights

• Most contractors say shutdown would hurt their businesses
• Some meetings with defense contractors have been canceled
• Arkansas and Georgia among states most affected
  
  The federal government shutdown is already affecting contractors and threatens to dampen private-sector employment, at least in the near-term, industry officials say.
  Twenty-nine percent of contractors say a shutdown would cause them to delay planned hiring, and 58% said it would have a negative effect on their businesses, according to a survey of 925 contractors this week by the National Association of Government Contractors.
• Q&A: 27 more questions answered about the shutdown
  JOBS: Private sector gains 166,000
  ENTERPRISE: Rental car brands to hire 11,000
• One Federal Solution, which provides information technology, health care and training services to various government agencies has furloughed 107 of its 115 employees because federal officials said they're non-essential, says CEO Abdul Baytops.
  "We're concerned about employees losing faith" in the company "even though we have no control over it," Abdul says.
  Advanced Systems Development, an information technology contractor, already has furloughed an employee who sets up computer networks for the Environmental Protection Agency because federal workers weren't available to approve new funding for the project, says company Chief Financial Officer Mary Lou Patel.
  PLAN: GOP offers piecemeal plan to mitigate shutdown
  Daniel Stohr, spokesman for the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents defense contractors, says, "We've already seen meetings (between contractors and Defense Department officials) that have been canceled."
  Such cancellations could delay work on ongoing projects, such as new weapons systems or information-technology maintenance, Stohr says. Defense contract workers also could be temporarily laid off because the federal employees who supervise them are on furlough or managers aren't available to move ahead with new equipment purchases, according to the aerospace group.
  OBAMA: President says GOP has ability to reopen government
  Besides the Washington, D.C., metro area, states with high concentrations of both federal and contract workers include Hawaii, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Georgia, according to Moody's Analytics.
  If the shutdown lasts a week or longer, as many as 250,000 to 300,000 contract workers could be affected in some way, says Fernando Galaviz, chairman of the National Federal Contractors Association. "A week would be like a bad headache," he says. "If it's more than two weeks, they can expect a lot of negative impact."
  
  
  Galaviz says his members are mostly small businesses that handle tasks such as computer network administration, facilities management and research. "If we have 20 people on a network help desk, (a federal department) may reduce that to 12," he says.
  Construction companies that build courthouses, dredge rivers and renovate U.S. park facilities also would be hurt, according to Associated General Contractors, a trade group. Projects could be delayed because government supervisors aren't on job sites to answer critical questions or approve changes, says AGC spokesman Brian Turmail.
  Several thousand construction workers could be affected if the shutdown lasts at least a week, he says.
  Although most contract workers would be sidelined temporarily, the disruption comes at a pivotal period, with monthly job growth slowing to a pace of 148,000 the past three months from 224,000 the previous three months.
  Concerns about a government shutdown have largely focused on the 710,000 to 770,000 non-essential federal workers who are being furloughed, according to estimates by JPMorgan and IHS Global Insight. Each week the government is partially closed would shave 0.12% to 0.16% off annualized economic growth in the fourth quarter, the firms project. But those estimates are based on the lost wages or output of federal employees.
  A Moody's study that also examines the impact on contract workers and ripple effects across the economy estimates that a shutdown of even a few days would trim fourth-quarter growth by two-tenths of a percent.
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