Oregon’s Rural Counties Are the Hardest Hit by the Federal Government Shutdown

As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, most of the nearly 23,000 federal employees in Oregon are still going without pay—including many required to keep working during the shutdown, such as airport screeners and air traffic controllers.

Analysis by OJP indicates that back pay for Oregon’s federal workers, mandated by the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act , has surpassed $140 million already.

Federal jobs are spread across all 36 Oregon counties, but the shutdown punishes some counties more than others.

Sherman County is the hardest hit; federal employees there make up 14% of the workforce and account for more than a quarter of the county’s total annual wages, according to state figures. Many are employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a branch of the nat