Three Ways the Shutdown Hurt the Economy

By Catherine Crawford

Once a day, Patch tackles national news that affects your community. If you have suggestions for tomorrow’s story, email catherine.crawford@patch.com.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a 27-page report on Thursday detailing the expected costs of last month’s two and a half week government shutdown. The report is based on information collected from independent forecasters.

The news isn’t good. The OMB, an office of the President that aids in the management of the nation’s budget, found that the congressional spat over health care and the debt ceiling will cost the United States at least $2 billion, and maybe as much as $6 billion.

Here are a few compelling reasons cited by the OMB:

1) Setback to jobs: In the first half of October, approximately 12,000 fewer private sector jobs were generated, first because of the threat of a shutdown, and then because of the shutdown itself.

2) Money for nothing: During the shutdown, federal workers were furloughed for a whopping combined total of 6.6 million days. After the dust settled, the government shelled out $2 billion to those furloughed federal employees for days that were never worked.

3) Impaired parks: Due to shutdown closures, the country’s national parks forfeited about $500 million in visitor spending. Who knows how much the shutdown impacted private tourism companies in the United States.

The numbers above only speak to the economic bruise. The OMB report details further damage felt in areas such as public safety, international relations, federal research, and more.

Go here to read the entire report and see for yourself.

Do you think there will be a repeat of October’s shutdown when Congress revisits the budget in January? Tell us in the comments or in a blog post.