In a new series that aims to promote the restoration of civil discourse, experts at the Aspen Institute weigh in on the consequences and policy ramifications — social, fiscal, and otherwise — of the US government shutdown of 2013.
The federal government shutdown affects more than just the hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers, said Maureen Conway, executive director of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) and the director of EOP’s Workforce Strategies Initiative (WSI). In the video below, Conway explains how everyone from the support staff within the federal office buildings to the surrounding businesses who rely on these workers as regular customers are affected.
In the short term, loss of revenue and income are at the forefront of the national conversation about the shutdown. But as it continues, overall confidence in the US economic recovery may continue to be at stake. This is, in part, because the monthly US jobs report — an economic marker released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics used to determine the country’s fiscal growth — may not even be released in October, due to the shutdown.
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