This is odd. Almost every state is broke, and looking for ways to close their budget gaps. So why on earth have they gone on a hiring spree? In all fairness, much of it occurred before the big meltdown. But still, did they expect the boom to last forever? Doesn’t anyone believe in saving for a rainy day? Especially in the case of state employees – it isn’t a one time expenditure, it’s a life long commitment.
While the private sector has shed 6.9 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, state and local governments have expanded their payrolls and added 110,000 jobs, according to a report to be issued Thursday by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. [...]
The expansion, coming as many states and localities are raising taxes, troubled Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst for the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group in Washington. “That is disturbing,” Mr. DeHaven said. “Basically what you have is your producers in society losing their jobs and looking for work, and their tax burden isn’t necessarily going down — and as a matter of fact they are likely to face tax increases going forward — and government growing.”
States are likely to cut more jobs this year. Many have already imposed furloughs on their workers, reducing their pay, and with states facing record declines in tax collections, several are planning to cut their work forces. The report noted that some hard-hit states had already made deep cuts, led by Arizona, which cut its state government employment by 8.6 percent from the spring of 2008 to this spring.
The disparity between the public and private sector job market is striking in places like Boise, Idaho. Since the recession began, the area’s unemployment rate has more than doubled, to over 10.1 percent in June, as big employers, especially in the technology sector, shed workers. The Boise area lost 20,000 jobs in the year ending in June, the Idaho Labor Department said, and saw real gains only in government, which had an increase of 1,400 jobs, mostly in the public schools.
Good luck to the states with those job cuts. In my county (not state – but you get the drift) they’re trying to close a $50 million budget gap. The County Executive, Joanie Mahoney, reached out to the unions to make some concessions. Ha! Why should they make any concessions when the taxpayers are footing the bill? So we will most likely see an increase in our property taxes, while people are out of work and struggling.
Why should anyone expect the states will be any different from my county?
Having taught at and worked in various positions at a community college, it is so great to hear a smart and wise person state facts about education and occupations. I guess there are those who are out of touch with the real world. Most jobs in the US do not require a university degree. Associate degrees are just fine for most jobs, as are apprenticeships, and there are plenty of jobs that require no degree. All those who push university degrees are really harming those people who would be a successful tool and die maker or iron worker or information specialist. It is almost like class warfare to deprive those who do not get university degrees of the pride they deserve to feel in the honest and excellent pursuit of those jobs which do not require university degrees. We need to stop this class warfare now!
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