The federal government shut down for the first time since 2019 on Wednesday morning, leaving many employees working without pay until funding is restored.

TSA agents and air traffic controllers will stay on the job, along with thousands of other essential workers, including those who keep Social Security running.

The catch: Many essential employees won’t get paid until funding resumes, meaning they could miss one or more paychecks depending on how long the shutdown lasts.

Hundreds of thousands of other federal employees find themselves furloughed. But like those still working without pay, they are guaranteed back pay thanks to a 2019 law.

Members of Congress, however, continue to be paid during a shutdown, as do postal workers, since the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is a self-funded, independent agency.

For federal contractors who aren’t directly employed by the government, the situation is far less certain.

Will furloughed federal workers get paid?

Yes, eventually. The “Government Employee Fair Treatment Act” of 2019 requires all federal employees to receive retroactive pay once operations resume.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about 750,000 employees could be furloughed each day of the shutdown at a total daily cost of roughly $400 million. Each agency decides who to furlough and for how long, so the number could vary.

For example, the Social Security Administration (SSA) expects to furlough 6,197 out of 51,825 employees, about 12%, according to its contingency plan. The Transportation Department (DOT) plans to furlough 12,213 employees out of its total workforce of 53,717, around 23%.

Those who keep working during the shutdown will also receive back pay, as will service members whose pay is delayed, once funding resumes.

The law requires employees to be compensated “on the earliest date possible” after a lapse ends, regardless of payroll schedules.

Depending on the length of the shutdown, furloughed and working employees alike could miss one or more of their regular paychecks.

Since 1981, there have been ten funding gaps of three days or fewer, mostly over a weekend when government operations were only minimally affected, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a fiscal watchdog group.

But shutdowns can drag on: A partial shutdown in President Trump’s first term lasted 35 days.

In 2013, a 16-day shutdown ultimately resulted in $2.5 billion in pay and benefits going to furloughed workers for hours they did not work.

Will Congress be paid during a shutdown?

Yes. Members of Congress will still collect paychecks because their salaries are considered mandatory spending and required by the Constitution.

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution states: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

Since 1983, lawmakers’ pay has come from a permanent appropriations account, meaning it does not depend on annual funding bills, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Most senators and representatives are paid $174,000 a year, a rate unchanged since 2009. The exceptions are the speaker of the House ($223,500) and the president pro tempore of the Senate and the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate ($193,400).

The president also gets paid during a funding lapse, though Trump has previously said he donates his government salary.

Some lawmakers in both parties have asked for their pay to be withheld during the shutdown.

“If our military isn’t being paid, neither should members of Congress,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) wrote in a letter shared on the social platform X.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) also said he would refuse his pay: “Government leaders shouldn’t be playing with other people’s chips.”

Federal contractors are not guaranteed pay

Federal employees are guaranteed back pay, but contractors are not.

“Federal contractors have historically not received back pay,” CRFB noted in a recent report, adding that “federal contractors sometimes include premiums in their bids to account for uncertainty in being paid.”

In practice, outcomes will likely vary. Some private employers may continue paying their workers, and contract terms differ from agency to agency.

As PolitiFact put it: “Some private employers with federal contracts may find ways to pay their employees, but there is nothing in federal law that requires it.”

Jim Malatras, chief strategy officer at The Fedcap Group — a nonprofit with federal janitorial and custodial contracts employing people with disabilities — told PolitiFact his company will keep paying workers “while we have the funding to do so.”

The total number of contractors is hard to pin down, but Brookings estimates they now outnumber federal employees more than two to one.

As of March 31, 2025, there were nearly 2.3 million federal civilian employees — a number that excludes postal workers, employees of various intelligence agencies, and military personnel. For reference, the five largest U.S. defense contractors employ some 690,000 people — underscoring how millions of contract workers could be affected by a prolonged shutdown.