With the partial government shutdown nearing the one-month mark, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has seen a rise in “unscheduled absences” among employees – many for financial reasons. TSA said Monday it has seen a rate of about 10 percent of unscheduled absences. “Many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations,” the TSA said in a statement. Despite the rise in employee absences, TSA stressed the national average wait times are within its normal range of about 30 minutes for standard lanes and 10 minutes for pre-check – although some airports had longer average times. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport had an average wait time of 45 minutes and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, had an average wait time of 12 minutes in pre-check, according to figures released by the TSA.

Source: Fox News January 21, 2019 18:38 UTC