Economic insecurity, not just for federal employees these days, but think of all the contract workers.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Good morning to you. It is day 14, entering a third week of the partial federal government shutdown.

For federal employees, the paychecks are grinding to a halt. A measure signed into law by President Trump in his first term

entitles furloughed workers to back pay once the shutdown ends. That said, the current Trump administration has a theory that this law applies only to workers deemed essential who are actually working without pay now. What is not contested, millions of government contract workers who have

no pay guarantee, Marketplaces Megan McCarty Carino reports. Contractors outnumber federal employees

by about two to one, according to analysis from Elaine Kmark at the Brookings Institution.

In other words, there's been a boom in contracting in recent years.

Much of that is due to defense contracts for things like fighter jets, but there are also hundreds

of thousands of lower wage service roles like janitors, cafeteria workers, and security guards.

There's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of anxiety.

Jewel and Cosgrove is a VP at Melwood, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities to get jobs in the D.C. Metro area.

The organization employs about 1,000 people at 70 different federal sites.

A lot of people who work for us, this is their first job or their first job in a long time.

Cosgrove says some have already been furloughed. Others are working without pay, though

Melwood hopes to make them whole once the government reopens. I'm Megan McCarty Carrino for Marketplace.

Yesterday, President Trump said it'll all work out on China trade policy and the stock

market went up. Today, China sanctioned the U.S. parts of a South Korean cargo company and then

Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, speaking to the Financial Times, slammed China, saying its

economy is a mess and that Beijing, quote, wants to pull everyone else down with it, unquote.

U.S. Stock Index futures are down hard. S&P futures minus 1 percent. Nasdaq futures minus 1.4 percent.

Some new tariffs began as you slept. It affects lumber. Manufactured furniture kitchen cabinets, among other things. Marketplaces, Nancy Marshall-Genser, has more.

Starting today, there will be a new 10% tariff on lumber imports and 25% import taxes on wooden furniture, vanities, and kitchen cabinets.

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