[freedomben]

> US government shutdowns (especially extended ones) are rare events

Sorry but no. I worked for the government for 9 years and went through four shutdowns. I'd hardly call that rare. On NPR this morning they were interviewing people who said the same thing (so it's not just me). I was also not one of the lucky ones that got furloughed. When I was there a lot of people loved shutdowns because it was free vacation time. They knew they'd get backpay. The only thing they couldn't do was go out of town since any day they could be called back.

> This is not something most of them would have considered when signing on.

True.

> Government employees are, on the whole, underpaid for the sort of work they do compared to private sector equivalents (or where their expertise could be used if not the same job). The primary benefit has been the stability and pension system, both of which are being challenged in recent years.

Debatable. The government is a huge industry, and over-generalizing like that is impossible to do while maintaining any level of accuracy. Remember to include benefits as well as paycheck in your analysis.

[mikeash]

This one is extremely long, though. It’s the longest on record and still getting longer, so it’s not something people would have anticipated. I can see how someone would enjoy a few days off of work, maybe even a week or two. But going a month or more without pay is quite a different matter.

[freedomben]

Yes, I agree. It's really crappy. I'd be in deep trouble if I went this long without getting paid, so I can relate very well. But do note that I was responding to this:

> US government shutdowns ... are rare events

not making an argument that people should have expected this (because I don't believe that. In fact I specifically agreed with that portion of the OP)

There are also resources available for people that can't go this long without a paycheck, that should help somewhat alleviate the pain [1].

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/18/here-are-the-banks-and-credi...

[cryptonector]

Yes, indeed, missing even one pay cycle can be very hard for many people. For furloughed workers the shutdown is paid vacation with deferred pay (they always get paid for that time off); they can actually get second jobs during that time. It's the essential employees that this whole thing is most unfair to.

[Jtsummers]

They often can't get jobs directly in the same career field without approval due to conflict of interest concerns. Approval which they presently can't get. For laborers this isn't necessarily a problem, but for knowledge workers this precludes a lot of opportunities to make up the lost income.

(Technically, all outside employment by a federal employee has to be approved by their office to ensure there's no conflict and that it won't impact the quality of the work.)

And deferred pay, after 2 missed paychecks, doesn't help much. This paycheck is February's rent for many of them. Good luck in a week if they can't negotiate with their bank or landlord.

[Jtsummers]

Historically rare. There have been 10 shutdowns in the history of the US government (there have been other funding gaps, but none of those had furloughed employees). 3 of those shutdowns in this decade. 4 in the 80s and 3 in the 90s. The shutdowns in the 80s were one day each. The 90s were 3, 5, and 21 days each.