<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><h1 class="title">Idaho No. 1 in nation in state government job cuts</h1>
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<span class="submitted">Submitted by <a href="http://voices.idahostatesman.com/user/idahopolitics" title="View user profile.">Dan Popkey</a> on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 7:36am.</span>
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<p>Idaho reduced state jobs by 6.9 percent between June 2009 and June
2010, leading the nation in state government employment cuts, says the
Rockefeller Institute of Government.</p>
<p>Relying on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released this week,
the Rockefeller Institute says 28 states cut state employment, while 18
added state jobs. Idaho was easily the biggest job trimmer, trailed by
Hawaii, which cut 4.5 percent of state jobs; Connecticut and Wisconsin,
down 4.2 percent; Arizona, down 3.8 percent; Vermont, down 3 percent;
and California, down 2.7 percent.</p>
<p>For the same period, Idaho local government, including public
schools, added jobs, growing 2.7 percent. Private employment was down
0.8 in Idaho from June 2009 to June 2010, according to the institute. </p>
<p>Educational services employment rose by 2.1 percent in Idaho, but the Rockefeller Institute says cuts are on the way.</p>
<p>"With states continuing to face harsh fiscal realities, declines in
education employment are likely just beginning," write the institute's
Donald Boyd and Lucy Dadayan in a news release Friday. "Education
employment in particular has been propped up by federal stimulus funds,
which have been nearly exhausted in many states and will be essentially
unavailable after the 2010-11 school year. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that many school districts around the country have been reducing
teaching positions by attrition and by laying off teachers for the
2010-11 school year. More layoffs and other reductions are likely in the
following year."</p>
<p>The pair also write: "For the nation as a whole, state government
employment is down 0.8 percent from its post-recession peak, and local
government employment is down 1.4 percent from the post-recession peak.
By contrast, private sector employment is down 6.8 percent."</p></div></div><br>Read more: <a style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);" href="http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/23/idahopolitics/idaho_no_1_nation_state_government_job_cuts#ixzz0uWUYrNOo">http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/23/idahopolitics/idaho_no_1_nation_state_government_job_cuts#ixzz0uWUYrNOo</a></div><br>
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