Shutdown claims more casualties

WASHINGTON—The economic impact of the US government shutdown fell first on the federal employees sent home from their jobs. But it may fall hardest on low-paid support workers in the private sector.

In the US capital, thousands of nannies, plumbers, sandwich makers, IT workers and others have been brutally reminded that their employment also relies on government, albeit indirectly.

And, although lawmakers and President Barack Obama are seeking away to guarantee backpay for federal employees, there is little hope that those outside the government will recoup their losses.

Aboubakarim Ndao, a 24-year-old Senegalese immigrant and father of two, works at Au Bon Pain, a popular cafeteria chain that sells pastries, sandwiches, salads and other light fare.

But the store he works at is located inside a federal building, which means, since the government mostly ground to a halt on Oct. 1, there aren’t a lot of people looking for breakfast and lunch.

Ndao said the cafe can normally find work for 12 people per shift, “but this week and last week, there were maybe five people.”

He usually works between 32 and 35 hours a week, but last week, hewas only able to clock in 16 hours.

“Thisweek, it’s going to be 16 hours or less,” he said.

Roxi Shryock estimates on a normal week, at least 70 percent of the people who come to the branch of the Potbelly Sandwich Works she helps manage are government employees.

Business has dropped nearly by half since the shutdown.

“Our projected sales are around $24,000 a week. Since the shutdown, we’ve been doing roughly $13,000,” said Shryock, 26.

But she said the worst impact is on her hourly employees.

“Instead of being open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., we’re open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Shryock said. “Everybody got their hours cut by 10 to 15 hours a week, if not more. They make minimum wage as it is, and they work hard. Cutting their hours that much could mean people’s bills don’t get paid.”

Steve Spencer works in IT for a federal agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. But he’s not an employee, he’s a contractor.

During a shutdown, “there’s no billable time,” Spencer explained.

This means “the contractors cannot get paid by the government,” even once it reopens.

“We’re probably not as affected as other families,” said Spencer, 40, explaining he has some smaller nongovernment contracts he can work on for now. Nevertheless, he estimates he normally earns around 80 percent of his income from his government contract.

“It’s frustrating,” Spencer said. “It would be one thing if they said they were going to shut down the government for three weeks in September, and then you could plan accordingly.”

Meanwhile, his bills remain the same, including the salary his family pays to the nanny who cares for their two children. Despite the shutdown, the Spencers haven’t cut their nanny’s hours.

“We’ll go to great lengths” to keep her hours steady, Spencer said, “as we realize that her salary for her family is very important.”

But not everyone can make that decision.