As the government shutdown stretches into its second week, federal workers and contractors say the wave of job uncertainty is just the latest hardship in a months-long grind of workplace challenges.
Some worry they’re reaching a breaking point in their careers in the federal workforce.
Marcus Ivory, 37, works as an IT contractor with the Environmental Protection Agency. He is currently working with pay since his work is funded with money from outside the Congressional budget. But if that budget runs dry, Ivory could lose his income without expecting it back at a later time.
During government shutdowns, essential federal employees work without pay, and others are furloughed — they’re typically entitled to back pay once a funding agreement is reached. (President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday some furloughed workers may not receive back pay.)
But independent contractors with the federal government, like Ivory, aren’t guaranteed back pay.
Ivory says he lost his income during the last shutdown, which began in December 2018 and lasted 35 days. Ivory says he was out of work long enough that he filed for unemployment, but he didn’t receive benefits until he was already back at work weeks later, even as bills became due.
“That was a month of money that I was just out of,” he tells CNBC Make It. “Luckily I was able to make rent that time. I thought to myself, ‘Next time, I may not be so lucky.’ Well next time is here, and I don’t feel so lucky.”
Ivory is a single father to a 13-year-old son and says they live paycheck to paycheck and below their means. Living without an income isn’t an option, he says, and he’s already wondering if he’ll have to take up a second job, or find a new one altogether, if he loses his government contractor role during this shutdown.
“I don’t think I can withstand constant shutdowns no matter who’s doing it,” he says. “It’s very scary. We need these jobs.”
‘Trying to survive and hang on’
Rebecca, 34, works with the Health Department. She requested to be identified by her first name only to protect her job security.
She’s also working with pay because her job is funded by money outside of the Congressional appropriations budget, she says. But “eventually that separate pot of money that I’m being paid out of could dry up,” she says. “I don’t really have a great idea of how much is in there, or how long we can continue during a shutdown, and how long I can continue being paid.”
Rebecca says she and her husband have discussed tightening their budgets to prepare for the possibility that she loses her income, even temporarily.
They’ve been having the same conversation for months since Rebecca says she received a “reduction in force” notice on April 1, was placed on paid leave and waited to be terminated from her job. Then, at the end of June, she says she got a phone call that she was being reinstated and was expected to return, otherwise retire or resign.
“I am constantly worried,” Rebecca says about her employment status. “Best-case scenario I’m still employed, but they stop paying me, and worst-case scenario is I get RIF’d again.”
The uncertainty has been a weight ever since President Donald Trump took office and made clear his intentions to slash the size of the federal workforce, Rebecca says.
“I feel like most of my co-workers are depressed and anxious, myself included,” she says. “Everyone’s kind of hanging on by a thread and white-knuckling the table to get through their day.”
Rebecca says she joined the federal workforce, first as a contractor eight years ago, to serve the public, but that the last nine months have made her question how long she can stick with it.
“I feel like, before all of this happened, I was a very professionally driven person,” she says. “Now it’s different, and I’m just kind of trying to survive and hang on. They’ve blown the wind out of my sails professionally.”
Want to be your own boss? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course, How To Start A Business: For First-Time Founders. Find step-by-step guidance for launching your first business, from testing your idea to growing your revenue.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.
