Government jobs were considered stable. Now the damage from the shutdown could cause workers to flee

As the partial government shutdown hits its 35th day, and hundreds of thousands of people face another missed paycheck, the closure threatens recruitment and retention of top talent in federal departments.

For years, government jobs have earned a reputation as stable. Employees could generally count on few surprises, good benefits and a solid retirement. For many workers, it comes with the reward of feeling like they helped the public.

The record-long government shutdown has damaged that notion. On Friday, about 800,000 federal workers will start to lose their second paychecks since funding for nine departments lapsed on Dec. 22. Some face furloughs, while others have had to toil without pay.

The missed paydays have left thousands of workers scrambling to cover meals and bills, selling personal items or seeking temporary or permanent work outside of their government posts. Some U.S. employees and outside groups advocating for them worry the political fight over President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall will drive talented people away from government service.

“I expect there will be some long-term repercussions of this in terms of really good people deciding this is not the career they signed up for,” one American diplomat posted in Europe who declined to be named said last week about younger people entering the foreign service. The official, who also mentioned Trump’s travel ban as a potential factor in driving young diplomats away, is reporting to work during the shutdown and not getting paid.

The federal government employs about 2 million civilians, according to the Office of Personnel Management. While many conservatives such as Office of Management and Budget Director and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney would like to see cuts, federal employment has stayed steady in recent years. The government does send much of its work to private contractors. (Contractors are in dire straits, too. There are about 10,000 companies that are contracted by government agencies affected by the shutdown, according to The Washington Post.)

Federal funding has lapsed 21 times since 1976, according to the Congressional Research Service. While workers did not face furloughs in all of those cases, they have during recent shutdowns. With the current partial closure entering its record 35th day and leading to at least two missed paychecks, it has become particularly demoralizing for people considering government work.

People entering government jobs often take the posts knowing they could make more money in the private sector. Many — whether in affected areas such as the State Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development or FBI — believe in the mission of their agency.

Having a passion for the work only goes so far when employees get paychecks for $0.

“Very few people in either the public or private sector can probably tolerate that and be in any kind of great shape,” said a representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest government worker union. The AFGE official declined to be named.

Congress has created a great deal of uncertainty for government workers in recent years. Funding lapsed — though only briefly — twice last year. Lawmakers have hopped from one short-term continuing resolution to the next to keep the government running, which also creates uncertainty for workers.

But employees have felt the pain of this shutdown more sharply. For some, it means finding stopgap sources of income when they cannot go to work, such as driving for Uber. For others, it means considering another line of work entirely — and potentially taking their skills away from public service.

One unidentified FBI special agent in the Northeast region said younger bureau employees “have said they will find work elsewhere” if the shutdown is prolonged, according to a statement released by the FBI Agents Association, which advocates for active and retired agents. The official said, “I can’t imagine attracting new qualified applicants” due to the shutdown, and speculated that talented people could seek other work.

Another special agent in the Washington, D.C., region with a computer science degree questioned the notion of working without pay.

“Putting up with lower pay than the private sector only makes sense when you actually get paid,” the unidentified agent said in a statement issued by the FBIAA.

The shutdown hit at a time when government worker morale was already suffering. Policies such as the travel ban hampered some officials’ enthusiasm. But the Trump administration has also proposed stark cuts to various departments in its budget proposals.

Employee engagement fell in 2018 in 59.1 percent of federal organizations ranked by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for efficient government. Engagement rose in only 39.6 percent of entities listed in its Best Places to Work in Federal Government report, while it stayed the same in 1.3 percent of organizations.

Funding lapses only make matters worse, and could deter qualified people from government posts, according to Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service.

“There is no other job that you could be required to be in where you have to work with no paycheck,” Stier said. “So it hurts the morale, it hurts the ability to encourage new people to come in.”

Employment with the federal government has offered particular stability to black Americans. The government is broadly considered a less discriminatory employer than many private sector companies — which Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, noted during an NAACP telephone town hall earlier this month.

Black employees made up about 18 percent of executive branch workers in 2017, according to the Office of Personnel Management. During the NAACP event, Fudge said that when Trump suggested on Twitter that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats, he really meant most of those not getting paychecks are black, according to Cleveland.com.