With the partial government shutdown slogging past the one-month mark, about 800,000 federal employees remain either furloughed or working without pay because the Trump administration has deemed their jobs “essential.”

[Nearly 10,000 companies contract with shutdown-affected agencies, putting $200 million a week at risk]

That definition has expanded as the lapse in funding has worn on, with thousands of employees who started on furlough in late December being summoned back to work. They include State Department diplomats, IRS workers to process tax refunds, Agriculture employees to staff field offices for the Farm Service Agency, inspectors for the National Marine Fisheries Service to sign off on fishing boats, and Park Service staff to clean bathrooms in still-open parks.

While the administration has come up with pots of cash from unused accounts or fee revenue to at least temporarily fund paychecks for workers at agencies that include the Food and Drug Administration and the State, Interior and Agriculture departments, critics say the administration lacks legal authority to force so many others to work without pay. The White House says it is trying to blunt the effects of the shutdown as much as possible. President Trump has signed legislation guaranteeing that employees will receive back pay when the government reopens.

Here’s a breakdown for major departments and agencies.

  • Working with pay
  • Working without pay
  • Furloughed

Kate Rabinowitz, Ted Mellnik and Darla Cameron contributed to this report.

About this story

Numbers provided by agencies. Figures are rounded.

Originally published Dec. 21, 2018.

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