Trump's top economic adviser says furloughed federal workers might be 'better off' due to free 'vacation days'

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett touts &quot;vacation&quot; for furloughed federal workers

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/PBS NewsHour)

published 14 January 2019

Right before the partial government shutdown over President Trump's border wall became the longest in U.S. history on Saturday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassert found the bright side for the roughly 380,000 furloughed federal employees. "A huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say between Christmas and New Year's," he told PBS NewsHour's Paul Solman. "And then we have a shutdown and so they can't go to work, and so then they have the vacation but they don't have to use their vacation days." Because theses workers will eventually get their back pay, "in some sense they're better off," he added.

Hassett did not address the 420,000 federal workers who have been forced to stay on the job without pay, or what these cash-strapped federal employees should do with this unplanned vacation they can't know the end dates for, but he did go on to say the U.S. economy has already lost about $20 billion in output from the shutdown and will lose $10 billion more for every week it continues. You can watch federal employees not enjoying their free vacation time in the video below, and watch the entire Hassett interview at PBS NewsHour. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.