Add It Up: State employees furloughed
April 11, 2009 at 8:29 am by Andy Nelson in Add it upNumber of state employees laid off this fiscal year: 345
Number of state employees who were furloughed in late February: 24,969
Percentage by which the number of furloughed employees has increased since then: 27
Total number of employees in the state Department of Corrections: 13,500
Number of days Department of Corrections employees are required to take as unpaid leave in the first half of 2009: 2
Total number of employees in the state Department of Transportation: 6,000
Number of days DOT employees are required to take as unpaid leave in the first half of 2009: 1
Total number of employees in the University System of Georgia: 40,000
Number of days that University System employees are required to take as unpaid leave: 0
Sources: AJC.com, www.macon.com, www.dot.state.ga.us, www.usg.edu
April 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
You are correct – there has been no directive by USG requiring all employees to take days off as unpaid leave. However, many USG institutions have done so on their own to meet the system-wide budget reduction mandate. Furthermore, USG institutions are experiencing record high levels of new applicants. Thus, university enrollment state-wide is likely to increase, which stands to offset a portion of budget losses and has the potential to create new jobs. A rise in enrollment cannot be sustained if there is a decrease in employees to handle the increased workload.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Georgia Tech employees – even the support staff – are salaried by federal grants, so even if they took a day off, the State wouldn’t save any money.