We meet again. The partial government shutdown has now lasted 22 days, which, FYI, is the average gestation period of a rat. It's also the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. With Congress adjourned for the weekend, it looks like this stalemate will rage on.
Checking the numbers
The good (ish): The partial government shutdown has sliced off about $3.6 billion from the U.S. economy as of yesterday, according to S&P Global Ratings.
But $3.6 billion (with a b) isn't much when you consider the U.S. economy is worth $19 trillion (with a t). Plus, some of that loss will be recovered when employees recoup wages post-shutdown.
The bad: The shutdown could potentially end a 99-month streak of job gains. The U.S. has added jobs every month since October 2010, but ifhundreds of thousands of furloughed workers are dropped from federal payrolls, that trend could come to a screeching halt.
"The January employment number could be pretty ugly," Moody's Analytics told the WSJ. That report hits the wires Feb. 1.
Might want to get to the airport early
TSA plans to start closing some security checkpoints at U.S. airports as soon as this weekend, thanks to staffing shortages caused by the shutdown.
More than 51,000 TSA employees have been working without pay since the shutdown began Dec. 22.
TSA said it experienced a 55% increase in employees calling in sick last week.
Plus, Miami International Airport is closing one of its concourses starting today. The airport is one of the busiest in the world and serviced more than 44 million passengers in 2017.
And, a union repping 10,000+ air traffic controllers sued the Trump administration yesterday, claiming it's illegal to force them (and other airport employees) to work without compensation.
But before you cancel that trip to Aruba, TSA said it screened 1.96 million passengers on Thursday and 99.9% waited in line for less than 30 minutes.
+ Also being affected by the shutdown: Farmers, prison guards, homebuyers, and more.