EL PASO, Tx., October 17, 2025: As federal workers across the nation continue to face job uncertainty over the federal shutdown, now on its 17th day, and the ongoing threat of being fired, the question that keeps coming up is how many El Pasoans are facing economic uncertainty over the congressional stalemate that has frozen paychecks for federal employees. To answer that question, the El Paso Herald Post calculated the number of federal workers in the region, their impact on the economy and what help is available to them.
The federal government began notifying some federal workers that they were being fired on October 10. So far around 4,000 federal workers have received reduction in force notices, known as RIFs.
A judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from firing more federal workers. In her order stopping the firing, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Wednesday wrote “that what’s being done here is both illegal and in excess of authority, and is arbitrary and capricious.” At issue are the laws guaranteeing that federal shutdowns would not be used to fire federal workers.
The Senate again failed to secure the 60 votes necessary to end the shutdown. The vote was 51 to 45. Two Democrats, John Fetterman (D-PA) and Catherine Cortez Maso (D-NV) have voted to end the shutdown. El Paso, as part of Texas is represented at the U.S. Senate by Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX), who have both voted to end the shutdown.
El Paso’s federal workers, including military personnel, have not been paid since the government shutdown 17 days ago. No word yet on how many, if any, El Pasoans have received RIFs, but there are over 13,000 federal workers, not including military personnel at Fort Bliss and at Biggs Army Airfield that have not been paid. The Trump Administration has threatened that federal workers may not get paid after the shutdown ends.
The threat seems to have prompted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to post on social media that “CBP, ICE, Secret Service, TSA and other critical mission areas will be paid for all hours worked during the shutdown period.” She added that DHS personnel “will receive a ‘super check’, which covers the 4 days lost, their overtime, and their next pay period.” It is yet unclear what funding mechanism DHS will use to make the payment. Trump also signed an order on Wednesday directing that active-duty military personnel be paid during the shutdown. The military will use leftover funds from Fiscal Year 2026 to make the military payments.
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has told federal employees that they qualify for unemployment benefits during the federal shutdown. This includes both essential and furloughed workers. However, once they receive any federal paychecks due to them, they must refund TWC the unemployment benefits disbursed to them.
There are an estimated 13,600 El Pasoans working in federal jobs.
The federal economic sector in El Paso is worth around $11 billion of the city’s total economy, or GDP. Additionally, of El Paso’s top 20 employers, only seven are private sector companies. The rest are government agencies. Of the close to 36,000 El Paso jobs in the top employers, less than 6,000 work for a non-governmental body.
Any disruption in federal contracts to these would create economic pressure for El Paso. Additionally, another large employer are the schools, who are both facing revenue deficits because of dwindling student populations and reductions in state and federal education funds.
Reduction of paychecks through the government sector leads to missed mortgage or rent payments, less disposable income to spend on local businesses, as well as lower sales and property taxes for the local governmental bodies.
The economic losses in federal paychecks and federal contracts is a looming existential economic crisis for El Paso.
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