Putting Rendell’s Layoffs in Perspective

Yesterday, Gov. Rendell announced layoffs for 255 state workers at a press conference, and said more might be coming if lawmakers don’t pass a budget to Rendell’s liking.

But let’s put those layoffs in perspective:

1) Pennsylvania currently has over 5,000 vacant positions.  While some of those may not be funded in the coming year, there are a lot of potential openings, and state employees generally have a history of moving between departments.

2) Auditor General Jack Wagner proposed using early retirement incentives (and no replace the retirees/only hire within) – suggesting this would reduce the state payroll by 2,000 to 3,000.

3) The 255 jobs represent less than one-half of one percent of the state payroll.  Contrast that to the private sector, where Pennsylvania has lost 184,000 net jobs over the past year, or 3.6%.  In other words, if you work in the private sector, you are at least 12 times more likely to lose your job than working for the state.