Not Expecting Back Pay, Government Contractors Collect Unemployment, Dip Into Savings

Archaeologist Greg Seymour loves his job in the Great Basin National Park, whose 77,100 acres straddle the Utah-Nevada state line. "I'm working on a historic orchard that was planted in the 1880s," he says. "Heirloom trees."

But Seymour, a 62-year-old contractor with the National Park Service, has been out of work since Dec. 22. That's the day funding for the Interior Department and eight other federal departments ran out amid a political standoff between Congress and President Trump over his demand for money to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

"They sent e-mails out letting all of us know that work for them that we're furloughed until further notice," says Seymour.

What's more, Seymour has little hope of being compensated for all the time he's being furloughed from his $35-an-hour job.