The short answer to the question posed above is: no, we didn’t. But I’m a talker so I have more to say here.
This afternoon CNN shared a video featuring Victor Blackwell to their Facebook page in which Blackwell makes a plea for federal workers. Currently on day 29 of the government shutdown, some 800,000 Americans are being forced to live without paychecks. Just last week the first instance of workers receiving $0 paychecks rolled in. As of now, there seems to be no end in sight.
I’m going to get real honest about my life and self here. I am one of those 800,000 people currently living without a paycheck. Not because I’m unwilling or unable to work, but because my job shutdown with almost no notice. 2 days before the shutdown started it seemed like a continuing resolution would be agreed on. Even the morning before we all assumed we’d be coming back to work the next week. Boy, were we wrong. Our commenter writes a statement that I thought about federal workers until I became one: they never live paycheck to paycheck. Boy, was I wrong.
As promised, here’s some honesty: As an early career federal employee I make around $34,000 a year. Huffpost reported in 2015 that the average federal worker makes ~$84,000 a year, a staggering 50 thousand dollars more than I make. That $34,000 is just the pay that I make on paper, before taxes or TSP or insurance. My take home pay every two weeks is around $880 for a whopping $1760 a month. I live in an urban area with a crazy housing boom. With that crazy housing boom are crazy rent prices, the average rent for an apartment in my area is $1278/month. I’m fortunate for a roommate who I can split costs with. That being said, I also live about 25 miles from my job because that is the closest I can afford to live. If I lived closer to work my rent would look more like $1400/month.
So, should people like me be able to save up 4 months of living expenses? Or is it just iPads and fancy TVs? The truth is I do have a nice TV and a nice cellphone. They were both paid for up front, no payment plans. But I’m also locked in to a contract with both my phone bill and my cable bill. I can’t just have them “turned off” because I signed a year agreement so I’m stuck with these bills until August or forced to pay an exorbitant fee to be released. Even if I sold the phone and the TV I’d still have to pay for the service I’m receiving. “What about a side gig?” You might ask. I’ve taken a boat load of ethics training while working for the government. It’s not that easy. When I was down on my luck & bills last fall I had to get supervisory approval to get a job outside of my own to ensure no conflict of interest.
Living paycheck to paycheck is miserable. I often wonder how I did it before my WGI last year. Out there are lots of highly paid government workers who haven’t begun to think about a food bank yet. I’ve been sitting here for 4 weeks watching the promise of replacing my 11 year old car this year run down the drain with my savings. Out there is a federal worker still going to expensive dinners, not selling their spare furniture, but this federal worker and her 11 year old car just want to go back to work.
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