Furloughed workers won’t be counted as unemployed on jobs report

Federal employees who are currently furloughed during the partial government shutdown will still be counted as employed in the January jobs report set to be released next week.

“Federal government employees who are working, but who will not be paid until funding is available, are included in employment counts,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wrote on its website. “Furloughed federal employees who were not working during the reference period, but who will be paid once funding is available, are also included in employment counts.” 

{mosads}The fact sheet adds that federal contractors who are either furloughed or working without pay and end up not receiving backpay will count as unemployed in the report.

Roughly 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or working without pay since Dec. 22, when about a quarter of the government shut down.

There is no firm count on the number of contractors in the same position, though reports have estimated that the number could run in the tens of thousands. 

Several lawmakers have voiced support for legislation to provide backpay to federal employees, and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) last week introduced a bill pledging backpay for contractors.

Low- & mid-income federal contract workers, like janitors, cafeteria workers & security guards, aren’t getting paid during the shutdown & haven’t received back pay after past ones. Watch this @nowthisnews video to hear how I’m working to right that wrong: https://t.co/9bwN71sE7z pic.twitter.com/cxclQqgxke

— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) January 19, 2019

BLS, which falls under the fully funded Department of Labor, confirmed that its report set for release on Feb. 1 will not be delayed, but other indicators relying on other data sets may be belated due to the shutdown. 

“This data collection activity is mostly funded by BLS and, at this time, is not affected by the lapse of appropriation. Therefore, data for January 2019 will be collected as scheduled,” BLS said.

“The lapse of appropriation may affect data in some BLS releases, however.” 

The shutdown, which entered its second month Tuesday, drags on as the White House and congressional Democrats are at an impasse over President Trump’s demand that $5.7 billion for a border wall be included in any spending bill to reopen the government.