4 Ways a Government Shutdown Could Impact the Footwear Industry

With Thursday’s deadline looming, U.S. lawmakers are still in talks over an agreement to prevent a lapse in government funding. If Congress doesn’t pass the necessary bill by midnight on Oct. 30, it will force a federal government shutdown, leading to worker furloughs and reduced operations at certain government agencies. To understand its impact, one only needs to look back a few years. For the U.S. footwear industry, like much of the country, the 2018-2019 shutdown — the longest in history, lasting 35 days — remains a painful memory. That partial shutdown took a $3 billion bite out of economic growth during the final three months of 2018, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. Now, in 2021, political stalemates in the House and Senate are once again obstructing the government’s ongoing operations in ways that threaten to impact the economy and reverse some of the progress made in the wake of the pandemic. Here are four ways this potential full government shutdown could affect shoe companies and retailers: 1. Delayed data During even the partial shutdown in 2019, crucial retail sales data were delayed due to the Commerce Department’s closure. Other regularly scheduled releases such as the international trade report were also

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