The government shutdown continues into its second week as Congress has yet to come to a deal on a budget bill. The shutdown began at midnight on October 1, the close of the 2025 fiscal year, and the Senate remains in a stalemate over a funding plan to reopen the government. With each hour the shutdown continues, hundreds of thousands of Federal employees continue to be without pay or work.
Here’s a breakdown of the shutdown by the numbers.
How does 2025 compare to prior shutdowns?
This is the 21st partial or full shutdown since the 1977 fiscal year. About 62% of all the shutdowns in that time occurred under the presidency of Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter. The 2025 shutdown is the first in six years and the fourth this century.
The shutdowns have varied in length, with some taking place over the course of a weekend and, as a result, not leading to any furloughs, whereas other shutdowns have lasted several weeks.
None was longer than the 34-day shutdown from December 2018 into January 2019, the second of now three shutdowns under Donald Trump’s administration.
How furloughs impacted Federal departments and agencies
More than a dozen Federal departments and agencies have been impacted by furloughs as a result of the current government shutdown. Several entities released contingency plans for the number of workers furloughed, those working without pay and those working as normal. The number of workers employed at each department or agency depends on the amount of already allocated funds existing for the office, or if the employee is deemed essential.
The Environmental Protection Agency saw the highest rate of furloughs, followed by the Department of Education, with 89% and 87% of staff sent home during the shutdown, respectively.
Nearly 600,000 workers were furloughed as a result of the shutdown, according to data from the agency and departmental funding lapse plans. Though that number is still below those of shutdowns in 2013 and 1995, where the furloughed worker count surpassed 800,000.
