Lockheed to furlough about 3,000 employees
Lockheed Martin Corp. announced Friday that about 3,000 employees will be furloughed starting Monday because of the government shutdown — a symptom of what some economists fear may be the negative downstream effect on the private sector.
As the largest U.S. government contractor, Lockheed expects the number of affected employees to rise each week as the shutdown continues. It is still unclear whether the furloughs will affect the company’s Colorado employees.
“Today’s announcement affects all our business areas across the country. We remain in discussions with our customers to assess individual program impacts,” Gordon Johndroe, Lockheed spokesman, said in a statement. “This is an ongoing situation, and it’s premature to saywhere the immediate effects are right now.”
Lockheed has facilities in several locations along the Front Range.
Affected employees include thosewho work at shuttered government facilities, those whose work requires government inspection and employees doing work that has received a stop-work order.
This, says economist Patty Silverstein, will continue to ripple across sectors.
“Certainly any of those contractors that have federal government contracts are at risk — and it is not just our defense-related ones. It is everything,” said Silverstein, president of Development Research Partners. “It can hit at all different industry groups, occupation groups and wage levels.”
It runs the gamut of private services, she said, such as the janitorial companies that clean the federal facilities.