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US government shutdown causes major private-sector job losses
(MENAFN) The recent US government shutdown likely resulted in significant private-sector job losses, according to White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. Speaking to a news agency on Thursday, Hassett said the Council of Economic Advisers estimates that around 60,000 jobs were lost due to the shutdown, and recovering those positions could take time.
“If you think about all the business travel that didn’t happen and so on, a lot of those are things that people do every quarter, and now that quarter is gone,” Hassett explained. While some of the losses may represent “permanent destruction,” he emphasized that broader economic conditions in the United States remain strong.
The shutdown ended Wednesday when President Donald Trump signed into law an agreement to fund the government through the end of January. Trump criticized the other party for causing the “longest government shutdown in American history” for purely political reasons. “This is no way to run a country. I hope we can all agree that the government should never be shut down again,” he said during the signing ceremony at the White House.
The legislation follows bipartisan approval in Congress. The House of Representatives passed the funding agreement Wednesday in a 222-209 vote, while the Senate had approved it on Monday.
The measure ends the 43-day funding lapse, reinstates federal employees who were furloughed or forced to work without pay, and funds government operations at previous levels through January 30. The deal also incorporates three-year appropriations packages covering essential agencies and programs.
The shutdown began on October 1 after negotiations over federal spending priorities broke down.
Thousands of federal workers were furloughed or required to work without pay, and many government services were curtailed or suspended. Democrats had sought to leverage the shutdown to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care subsidies and reverse cuts to the Medicaid program for lower-income Americans. Neither objective was achieved during the shutdown, though Republicans agreed to hold a later Senate vote on ACA subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
“If you think about all the business travel that didn’t happen and so on, a lot of those are things that people do every quarter, and now that quarter is gone,” Hassett explained. While some of the losses may represent “permanent destruction,” he emphasized that broader economic conditions in the United States remain strong.
The shutdown ended Wednesday when President Donald Trump signed into law an agreement to fund the government through the end of January. Trump criticized the other party for causing the “longest government shutdown in American history” for purely political reasons. “This is no way to run a country. I hope we can all agree that the government should never be shut down again,” he said during the signing ceremony at the White House.
The legislation follows bipartisan approval in Congress. The House of Representatives passed the funding agreement Wednesday in a 222-209 vote, while the Senate had approved it on Monday.
The measure ends the 43-day funding lapse, reinstates federal employees who were furloughed or forced to work without pay, and funds government operations at previous levels through January 30. The deal also incorporates three-year appropriations packages covering essential agencies and programs.
The shutdown began on October 1 after negotiations over federal spending priorities broke down.
Thousands of federal workers were furloughed or required to work without pay, and many government services were curtailed or suspended. Democrats had sought to leverage the shutdown to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care subsidies and reverse cuts to the Medicaid program for lower-income Americans. Neither objective was achieved during the shutdown, though Republicans agreed to hold a later Senate vote on ACA subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
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