7/11/09

Furloughs

With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year


a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce


for savings


 


…more than 728,500 state employees in at least 21 states


 have already or will be furloughed


 


…at least 54,000 state workers have been laid off so far


 


…furloughs translate to pay cuts for workers


 ranging from 0.5 percent in North Carolina to 13.8 percent in Hawaii


 


Employees whose jobs are deemed essential to public health and safety


 such as police officers and veterans’ homes employees, aren’t furloughed


 


Furloughs cut into state services


Pauline Vu


 Stateline.org, June 30, 2009


North Carolina: $65 million savings


10 hours over a year


 


California: 238,000 employees, $1.3 billion savings


34 furlough days over 18 months


 


The California budget deficit is $26 billion now and counting


 


Shortfalls are rising every day as is interest on IOUs


 


California could fire all 200,000+ state workers on forced furloughs


and still not balance its budget!


 


…furloughs are a drop in the bucket


towards solving state budget problems


 


Massive programs need to be cut


and pension benefits must be brought under control


 


Mike "Mish" Shedlock


Global Economic Trend Analysis, July 10, 2009

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