The rippling effects of the government shutdown have made their way to the private sector. Lockheed Martin announced Friday 3,000 of its employees will be furloughed effective Oct 7.
“In an effort to minimize the impact on our employees, we are directing affected employees to use available vacation time so they can continue to receive their pay and benefits,” said Lockheed Martin CEO and President Marillyn Hewson. “We hope that Congress and the administration are able to resolve this situation as soon as possible.”
If the shutdown continues, the number of employees affected is expected to increase weekly. According to the release, this also affects employees who are unable to work because the government building they work in shut down, work that requires a government inspection that can’t be completed or if they’ve received a stop work order.
Hewson encouraged lawmakers to work together to come up with a solution and pass a funding bill to end the shutdown.
Wednesday, another major government contractor, United Technologies, announced it would furlough 2,000 employees starting Monday. According to United Technologies, those furlough numbers can be expected to double if the shutdown continues into next month, possibly reaching as high as 5,000.
These numbers top off the already 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed since Tuesday this week.
