Hundreds of Thousands of Federal Employees Furloughed

Around 700,000 federal employees have faced furlough without pay since the U.S. government shutdown began on October 1, while another 700,000 have been working without pay through the shutdown. As the shutdown enters its second month, food banks are seeing a surge in people turning to them, including federal workers who are missing paychecks.

An analysis by The New York Times shows the true extent of the standstill in terms of people's livelihoods. In five agencies - the Environmental Protection Agency, Education, Commerce, Labor and Housing and Urban Development - between 71 and 89 percent of employees have been furloughed. In absolute numbers, this comes to over 64,400 people in just the five agencies alone. Just some of the many activities grinding to a halt are tasks at the Census Bureau, the review of housing discrimination complaints, as well as data releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But as this chart shows, this high number even pales in comparison to the civilian work force of the Defense Department, where nearly 335,000 people have been furloughed. Reporters at the NYT find too, that in terms of Health and Human Services, where 32,460 people are affected by furlough (41 percent of the total agency), some of the activities that will cease include the admittance of new patients at the N.I.H. hospital, C.D.C. communications to the public and guidance to state and local health departments on public health matters, in addition to F.D.A. approval of some new drug and medical device applications.

As the shutdown continues, several groups of federal personnel have notably been protected from furlough, including federal law enforcement officers and immigration agents.