Two-Thirds of Oregon’s Federal Employees Are Still Getting Paid, Despite the Government Shutdown

State figures show that the majority of the state's 28,000 employees are still getting a paycheck.

A U.S. Forest Service employee briefs Sen. Ron Wyden in 2017. (BLM photo)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The media locally and nationally is full of horror stories about employees suffering from President Donald Trump's government shut-down.

The New York Times has written about federal corrections officers going without pay and today, the Oregonian focused on the Transportation Safety Authority workers who provide security at Portland International Airport.

But some clear-eyed analysis from the Oregon Employment Department found the damage is far from universal.

"There are about 28,000 federal employees in Oregon, but two-thirds work in agencies that have funding and are not directly affected by the shutdown," wrote the Employment Department's Anna Johnson in a Jan. 8 report.

"This includes the U.S. Postal Service, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Labor."

Still, there are still about 9,600 federal employees in the state who aren't getting a paycheck, which is a significant hardship for them and their families.

In the last extended shutdown, in 2013, the Employment Department says about 500 federal employees forced to miss their paychecks filed for employment benefits.

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