Three Out of Four White House Workers Have Been Furloughed

450 viewed as essential

Now in its second week, the partial government shutdown has taken its toll on the White House, where about 3 of 4 staffers have been furloughed, barred even from checking the BlackBerrys they usually clutch like worry beads.

Of the 1,701 advisers, assistants, number-crunchers, butlers, chefs and landscapers who work at the White House on a normal day, fewer than 450 are on duty, according to President Barack Obama's budget office. The rest fall under an unfortunate label that has kept hundreds of thousands of federal workers home: "non-essential."