Visualizing the Cost of the U.S. Government Shutdown
Description
Visualizing the Cost of the U.S. Government Shutdown
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Key Takeaways
- Roughly 1.4 million federal workers were impacted by the record U.S. government shutdown, with 730,000 working without pay and 670,000 furloughed.
- Total delayed federal government spending was estimated to be $54 billion.
The record-long U.S. government shutdown resulted in billions in losses to the economy.
Over a million federal workers went without pay for more than six weeks, limiting their spending capacity. Meanwhile, about $2 billion in food stamp spending was delayed over the six-week period, affecting 40 million people.
This graphic shows the estimated cost of the U.S. government shutdown, based on analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
The Government Shutdown’s $54 Billion Freeze
Below, we show the financial impact of delayed federal spending by category:
| Category | Six Week Shutdown Estimates |
|---|---|
| Delayed Spending on Goods and Services | $36B |
| Delayed Compensation | $16B |
| Delayed Spending on SNAP | $2B |
| Total Delayed Spending | $54B |
As we can see, delayed compensation was estimated to reach $16 billion over a six-week period.
In total, 730,000 federal employees were working without pay, while 670,000 were furloughed. Many air traffic controllers looked for other work during the shutdown, an industry already facing a shortage of 3,903 fully certified workers prior to the shutdown.
Delayed spending on goods and services totaled $36 billion, the largest category overall. For instance, the shutdown forced the Small Business Administration to halt $170 million in federal loan guarantees per day, impacting at least 8,300 small businesses.
Given these disruptions, it is estimated that the shutdown will shave off $28 billion from real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025. For the travel industry alone, spending fell by an estimated $5 billion.
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