Federal Workers

Starling of the Month - Jan. 2019

The 2018-2019 government shutdown reached historic lengths and took real tolls on Americans. More importantly, however, may be the fact that those who dictate the length of the shutdown were unaffected by it.

Putting the federal government out of commission also leads to the 800,000 federal workers being put out of commission. This leads to thousands of American families facing the hardship of being unable to make ends meet.

So for the start of the new year, federal workers are the Starlings of the Month. Although not being given a choice, they picked up the slack that the government was unable to do and got to work. Thirty-five days makes the longest shutdown in U.S. history. During these 35 days, workers were either furloughed or in other cases forced to show up as "essential personnel" and then led to back pay. Small businesses suffered, contractors suffered.

For some households, there was a reliance on impromptu programs that sprung as a result of the shutdown like restaurants serving government patrons for free. For some, there was a reliance on legislative changes to counteract the decreased productivity. For some there was a heavy annoyance with clocking into the job and receiving no immediate benefit.

On the bright side however, it looks as though legislators may now be taking steps to ensure these obstacles don't become the norm each cycle.

See some of the chatter from the Twittersphere down below: