The longest government shutdown in history is expected to come to a halt Friday, with Congress on track to approve a short-term funding deal to reopen the federal government. But economists in the D.C. region say the furlough could leave a lasting imprint.

Stephen Fuller, a regional economist at George Mason University, says the impasse has tainted Washington’s reputation as a stable, attractive job market.

“The image of this region has been tarnished,” says Fuller. “Workers will not want to work for the federal government as much now as they might have before. Federal contractors will have the same issue. … It’s going to haunt us for, perhaps, years.”

There’s also a certain amount of irreversible economic damage that’s been done, Fuller says. Businesses that saw decreased sales during the furlough, such as restaurants and food trucks downtown, can’t expect to recover those losses.

“We’ve lost a percentage point, or maybe two percentage points, of growth here. We won’t get those back,” Fuller says. “The spending that didn’t take place in January by these workers won’t be doubled up next month.”

The effects have been particularly pronounced in the District of Columbia, where officials say the shutdown wiped out between $6 and $12 million in tax revenue per week.

Fuller estimates that the Washington region lost about $1.6 billion in economic activity and earnings during the first 25 days of January, although a large portion of foregone income will be made up when federal employees are repaid.

Legislation signed by President Trump requires government workers to be reimbursed for their lost wages “at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”

Even with paychecks in hand, however, workers aren’t likely to return to their normal spending patterns right away—especially with the looming possibility that the government could shutter again soon. The stopgap funding measure Congress is expected to approve Friday only reopens the government through mid-February.

“Is this the last shutdown for this year? … At this point, no one can tell,” says Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center. “If people think the shutdown is going to happen again in three weeks, that we’re not making progress, they’re not going to go back to [spending] their money the way they used to before the shutdown. … And that is going to delay the recovery.”

But unlike Fuller, de Rugy doesn’t predict lasting damage to Washington’s “brand” as an employment center. Working for the feds, she says, still has upsides.

“Remember, during the Great Recession, this area fared way better than many other regions precisely because of our dependence on the federal government,” de Rugy says. “So it cuts both ways.”

This story originally appeared on WAMU.