How The Government Shutdown Could Hurt Retail

If the government shutdown doesn’t end on Friday, it will be the longest in U.S. history. The more it drags on, the more damage it will do, according to experts. At the moment, furloughed workers and their families, along with veterans and others depending on federal services, are the real victims of an ongoing stalemate between the Trump Administration and Congress over funding a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, that at the moment seems intractable. On Thursday, protests erupted in front of AFL-CIO headquarters, not far from the White House. “Notably, 800K federal employees have been furloughed,” UBS Analyst Michael Lasser wrote in comments emailed to Retail Dive. “This doesn’t include the impact from private businesses & contractors levered to the government. As such, there will likely be a drag on consumption should the shutdown persist in the upcoming weeks or months. Further, the shutdown could impact the timing of government disbursements. Thus, many retailers could be impacted.” Read more at Retail Dive.