Economic loss from shutdown may exceed $5.7 bln

World
Europe

00:50

Even though the shutdown is over for now, the damage has already been done.

According to S&P global, the economic damage from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history could exceed 5.7 billion U.S. dollars which is the cost President Trump demanded for his border wall project.

Statistics show the average weekly direct and indirect costs of the partial shutdown currently add up to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars. Direct effects include the loss of productivity from the hundreds of thousands of workers who have not been paid since December 22.

Experts say the productivity lost from government workers will never be regained as in previous shutdowns. Now, federal workers will be compensated after reopening, but roughly four million private-sector jobs that depend on the federal government won't receive payback.

Economists earlier warned that the shutdown could slash job growth by as much as 500,000 in January and lift the unemployment rate above four percent.

U.S. consumer sentiment in January fell to the lowest level in more than two years due in part to the lengthy partial government shutdown.