The chart that shows the financial peril facing federal workers

Professor of Economics and Rondthaler Chair Daniel Silverman and his co-authors found that a vast majority of government employees don’t have enough money in the bank to cover expenses for two weeks.

Financial experts recommend that everyone have a stash of money set aside to cover emergencies — from a car accident or broken air conditioner to an unforeseen hospital visit. Yet according to Bankrate's latest financial security index survey, many Americans are unprepared to cope with unanticipated expenses. Professor of Economics and Rondthaler Chair Daniel Silverman and his co-authors found that like most U.S. citizens federal workers don't have an emergency fund set aside to deal with unexpected situations, let alone the government shutdown.

In an article Jan. 16, 2019, in The New York Times:

Almost two-thirds of federal workers likely have less than two weeks of expenses set aside to live, based on research of the 2013 government shutdown.

– Daniel Silverman, professor of economics and Rondthaler Chair