According to the Congressional Budget Office, the 35-day federal government shutdown cost the economy $3 billion in losses that can never be recovered.
But despite this dire statistic, job numbers for January 2019 were strong.
In January, the economy added 304,000 jobs, marking one hundred straight months of job gains.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also attributed the small rise in unemployment – 4% from the previous month’s 3.9% – to furloughed federal workers who were counted as unemployed during the shutdown.
The average wage also rose 3.2% versus a year ago, to $27.56 per hour.