What Could Possibly Be Next?

450,000 Govies Outta Work in FY2012

Sorry for the grim news, but that that’s exactly what they reported last week. So, if you’re a government worker either for a state, county, town or village – pink slips are in the forecast. If you thought it was bad last year (300,000 jobs were cut) – brace yourself for troubled times.

The reason for the job cuts is due to the fact that federal stimulus program is coming to an end – and the cost of Medicaid is on the rise. With the money that states received primarily for education and Medicaid (the state-federal health plan for the poor and disabled) going away, deficits states and municipalities will have to close will increase to $155 billion (from 108 billion in the current fiscal year).

Many states (and cities) are already doing more with less – besides the layoffs which have occurred, many agencies have been leaving positions unfilled when people quit or retire, their employees are taking on additional duties, furloughs have become the norm, cuts in pay have been made, agencies may have been merged together or been privatized, cuts to benefits, increase in benefit costs have been passed on to workers, buildings have been sold off,…and the list certainly goes on. Taking all this in to consideration, when one hears there is going to be deep cuts to state and local governments as they have to balance their books, it seems a no brainer that that more government workers will be standing in the unemployment line.