Federal government shutdowns are a lot like hurricanes on the east coast: They don’t happen every year, but they do happen from time to time and it’s best to plan for them.
Since the Newt Gingrich takeover of the House, there have been five government shutdowns: One in 1995, a related one in 1996, a long gap to 2013 when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tried to defund Obamacare, one in 2018 when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to pass the Dream Act, and the current shutdown where President Trump is trying to get funding for a wall on our southern border.
Federal employment, like any job, has its ups and downs. Without a doubt, one of the big downsides is this hurricane-like occasional government shutdown. But even these aren’t so bad. The workers get their back-pay when the government opens up, and the shutdowns usually don’t last more than a pay period or two.
Let’s not forget that there are a lot of upsides to being a federal employee. Once you’ve been on the job for more than six months, it’s virtually impossible to be fired thanks to civil service rules. The Thrift Savings Program is widely regarded as the gold standard for defined-contribution, 401(k)-style workplace retirement accounts. Unlike most of their private sector counterparts, federal employees also have access to a defined-benefit pension plan which starts paying out after only 20 years of work for most. Furthermore, federal workers only need to pay for one-fourth of the cost of their insurance from the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan — taxpayers pick up the rest.
There’s also no “taking one for the team” discount in federal employee compensation. According to multiple studies done on the matter, federal employees get paid more than their private sector counterparts, even when controlling for variables such as education level and age. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office pegs the federal employee compensation advantage at 16 percent, with estimates from conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation (30 to 40 percent) and the American Enterprise Institute (61 percent) even higher. Again, this is compensation, which includes both wages and the very generous federal employee benefits package.
Nonetheless, no job is perfect and every job has a downside. One of the known disadvantages of federal government employment is that Congress and the president may get into a fight and put your paycheck in a drawer for a few weeks. You’ll get paid, but late. What’s the proper response to this for federal employees?
Already, we’re seeing reports of federal workers raiding their TSP retirement nest eggs (incurring costly taxes and penalties to do so), resorting to payday lending, and getting gig economy side work for extra cash. Many federal employees feel like they have no choice and that they should be shielded from pay interruptions — not loss of income, but interruptions. It’s frankly an entitlement mentality alien to the experiences of most private sector workers, folks who don’t get guaranteed jobs for life with fat pay and benefits.
The good news is that decades of personal finance best practices has federal employees covered for the next, inevitable, government shutdown (“when” is the only variable). Ask any financial adviser in living memory and he will tell you that it’s a good idea to save up for a rainy day. These expense reserve suggestions range from three to six months of emergency spending, depending on the level of financial instability one can reasonably expect to endure.
The reality is that most government shutdowns are brief — the one that’s on now is the longest on record, and only one pay period has been deferred so far. That means federal government workers don’t need nearly as large an expense reserve as their private sector counterparts who get paid less, can lose their jobs much more easily, and are subject in general to greater risk of pay cuts.
A federal employee saving just 4 percent of their take-home pay over a 26-pay-period calendar year will have just more than one full pay period in the bank after only one year. Keep up that easy savings regimen, and within a few years a federal government worker will have more than enough money saved up to ride out a government shutdown of any considerable length. Remember, all back wages eventually get paid, so this is just a cash flow exercise. Liquidity is what every family and business has to plan for, and federal employees are not exempt.
Some might say that this is impossible, that too many federal employees are living paycheck to paycheck. My answer to that is to do what every kitchen table and small employer back office has to do — cut spending. If rent is too high, get a roommate or move. Cook meals at home instead of going out. Bring lunch to work instead of buying it at the cafeteria. There’s simply no excuse for not being able to save a measly 4 percent of take-home pay every pay period. That’s only $40 for every $1,000 directly deposited.
Federal employees are having a tough go of it right now, but people really shouldn’t feel that bad for them. They should have known better than to skate by without any rainy day savings, especially considering how much more they make than private sector workers. The good news is that they can do better next time by saving a little bit each paycheck for the inevitable next shutdown.
Ryan Ellis (@RyanLEllis) is president of the Center for a Free Economy.
