Newly-Red States Account For Nearly Half Of Government Layoffs: Report

If you work for the government, your job is probably more secure if you live in a state not controlled by Republicans.

The 11 states that went red in the 2010 midterm election alone accounted for slightly more than 40 percent of the state-level public job losses last year, according to a new paper from progressive think tank The Roosevelt Institute. Those states also lost 2.5 percent of their government workforces in a single year on average, compared to an average of 0.5 percent in all the other states.

Texas, which was already Republican in 2010, makes up an additional 31 percent of the job cuts, the paper found.

While those 12 states may be hit the hardest by government layoffs, public sector workers all over the country suffered last year, as state and local governments looked for ways to cut costs amid looming budget crisies. Roughly 700,000 public sector jobs were cut in the last three years. Last year, government job cuts alone accounted for one-third of all U.S. layoffs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Even those government workers lucky enough to keep their jobs suffered. State and local government workers saw their wages grow by only 1.2 percent between October 2010 and September 2011. In addition, federal government workers saw a wage boost of 1.3 percent -- the lowest rate of growth in more than a decade, according to USA Today.

All of this lack of job and salary security could be pushing college students to turn their noses up at government work. Just 6 percent of students said they wanted to work for the government, according to a survey conducted in early 2011 by the partnership for public service. In addition, the share of college students interested in working for the government has dropped two years in a row.

Comments

[Nevervotesrepublican]

12:59 PM on 03/31/2012

States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)

[Nevervotesrepublican]

12:58 PM on 03/31/2012

Now tell me how it is the red states are so fiscally prudent.

[Nevervotesrepublican]

12:57 PM on 03/31/2012

1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)

What the welfare states receive for every tax dollar they send to the government

[Eagleman]

12:08 PM on 03/28/2012

What's wrong with getting rid of lazy bums and parasites ?

[Tim Mcgill]

07:26 PM on 03/28/2012

Careful what you wish for, son. ;)

[Chris Herz]

11:24 AM on 03/31/2012

What's wrong is that they are not getting rid of lazy bums and parasites: The prisons are overflowing with marijuana users. Get rid of these cops and I might agree.

[Silverado Lady]

09:29 AM on 03/28/2012

People will start moving elsewhere and these states will be filled with just those on the 'right' and when THEIR POLICIES DO NOT WORK FOR THEM(since no one else will be there), they will try to hop on the - please help us federal government bandwagon - BUT they chose to WANT smaller government - so the response should be, so sorry, no money for helping, have to watch that deficit, if you still need help, ask us next year and we will see how that deficit looks like then.

[Italianamerican]

08:36 AM on 03/28/2012

Yes and if in live in a state controlled by Democrats you are most likely to require a federal bail out. All you need to do is look at CA. and Il. to see the future of Democratic states. Then look at states like New Jersey where the Corizine administration was destroying the tax payers to pay for the unions. Look at the progress that Christie has made without raising taxes. Why don't people understand that the government needs small and large business in this country. I am not in business for the collective no matter ho much the democrats want me to be. I am in business for my family and employees.

[winebuyer]

12:21 PM on 03/28/2012

"I am in business for my family and employees" - No, you just think you are

[Nevervotesrepublican]

12:53 PM on 03/31/2012

If you live in a red state (WELFARE STATE) You are probably being funded by the federal government.

[Wolf Larsen]

12:14 AM on 03/28/2012

Now the trollies_are going to tell us how fiscally responsible this is....ignoring the fact that those unemployed people still have to live. Which accounts for the fact that the Red states are some of the most parasitic_in the nation. The Blue states are the ones that support them.

They blather about personal responsibility but when they are behind the eight ball their hands are further out than anyone's....

[Kai-HK]

09:48 PM on 03/27/2012

Excellent News!

Good to see that these Red States are practicing prudent fiscal management and not following the ruinous polices of Detroit, California, Illinois, etc. This is wonderful news for the taxpayers that no longer have to support a larger bloated public union make-work state government at the expense of the private sector and individuals.

These actions will hurt in the short run but pay big dividends in the long run and it is good to see mature, sensible leaders making decisions that consider the long-term impact.

Keep up the great work!

Kai

[jddelane]

11:18 PM on 03/27/2012

Remember that when your house may be on fire and there's "insufficient" resource available to save your house and possibly your family.........and, if your home is being robbed, and your NRA gun jams, that there is "insufficient" Police resource available to respond "in time".

Be careful what you wish for, vote for and what you "think" is best. If you don't care.....and something happens.....don't come "Kai-ing" to us. Oh, and stay off the highways the rest of us pay for..........STOP "living off the rest of us". My TAXES have never been higher than under the Republican controlled township, County and State where I live.

3825 968

[LHoney]

07:29 AM on 03/28/2012

x2

[Kai-HK]

09:55 PM on 03/28/2012

You state, ‘Remember that when your house may be on fire and there's "insufficient" resource available to save your house and possibly your family.........and, if your home is being robbed, and your NRA gun jams, that there is "insufficient" Police resource available to respond "in time.’

In both examples I would have to rely on myself…oh tell me it is not true! How scary to be self sufficient. I would love it.

[MyNameIsJames]

08:31 AM on 03/28/2012

Sounds good on paper for Conservatives but where are the new jobs coming from? Most red states are not doing well economically. Ideology cannot feed, or clothe people. Traditionally the reddest states are also some of the poorest states, - So there is not a good track record of reliability for Conservatives and economic growth.

I think that most Conservatives have a high tolerance for poverty, ignorance, and backwardness. Its funny because 70 years ago the World War 2 generation REJECTED this stupidity and put in the New Deal - Won WW2 and then created a huge nest egg for their Boomer kids.

Boomer kids - a segment become conservative while benefitting from the New Deal and begin promoting a Worldview that they have never experienced themselves.

Conservatives trash unions but they expect the same benefits that Unions created like - 8 hour work day, unemployment insurance, overtime pay, workplace safety, paid vacations, retirement pensions. Where do they think these things started?

I believe that this is mainly a generational issue. Conservatives are getting older and needing now to rely on others. Their ideas are not catching on with the younger generation. I would encourage Conservatives to start a move for seniors to opt-out of medicare. That way Conservative seniors could practice what they preach and demonstrate to the rest of us why they are right.

[Kai-HK]

10:41 PM on 03/28/2012

James:

You state, ‘Remember that when your house may be on fire and there's "insufficient" resource available to save your house and possibly your family.........and, if your home is being robbed, and your NRA gun jams, that there is "insufficient" Police resource available to respond "in time.’

In both examples I would have to rely on myself…oh tell me it is not true! How scary to be self sufficient. I would love it.

You state, ‘Sounds good on paper for Conservatives but where are the new jobs coming from? Most red states are not doing well economically.’

Actually they have rebounded faster than the blue states and economic growth for them, on average, has been better since the 1990’s.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/27577.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TaxPolicyBlog+%28Tax+Foundation+-+Tax+Foundation%27s+%22Tax+Policy+Blog%22%29
‘Florida is the big winner - migrants bought a net $70 billion dollars in annual income into the state between 1999 and 2009. New York, on the other hand, lost the most income: $45 billion.’

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/03/companies-leaving-california-in-record.html
‘For all California departures, the top destinations were Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and a tie for Utah and Florida, Vranich said.’

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/09/three-worst-states-to-conduct-business.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29

[Kai-HK]

10:41 PM on 03/28/2012

‘Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina were viewed as having the best business climates, according to the survey.
Best and Worst States, Things in Common
• Illinois, New York, and California all have Democratic governors.
• Illinois, New York, and California all have governors beholden to public unions.
• Illinois, New York, and California are not right to work states.
• Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina are all right-to-work states.
• Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina do not have governors beholden to public unions.

You state, ‘Traditionally the reddest states are also some of the poorest states, - So there is not a good track record of reliability for Conservatives and economic growth.’

Yeah but they are poor despite being red not because of it. Since the 1990’s they have been growing faster than blue states.

You continue, ‘I think that most Conservatives have a high tolerance for poverty, ignorance, and backwardness’

I would not disagree with you on that statement. However, red states are making a comeback predicated on the fact that their policies are more conducive to growth offsetting much of the traditional poverty that existed. In short, their policies are correcting that poverty, ignorance, etc.

You continue, ‘Its funny because 70 years ago the World War 2 generation REJECTED this stupidity and put in the New Deal…’

[edward60]

08:39 PM on 03/27/2012

When people vote for the GOP that means they dont want jobs or bennifits.

[wanttoseeabrochure]

11:47 PM on 03/27/2012

No..GOP'S create jobs and benefits...we want EVERYONE to go out and work

[Wolf Larsen]

12:10 AM on 03/28/2012

LMAO! I love sarcasm!

[Karelh]

02:25 AM on 03/28/2012

really, name one thing they have pushed for or done in the last 30 years that actually created real well paying, long term jobs in the US,...please...do tell?

They are outstanding at creating jobs everywhere BUT the US!

[onehenry]

07:00 PM on 03/27/2012

These people love to layoff people until it hits the private sector and their job is lost. They have been complaining about their jobs for a few years. Self centered and only care about themselves and the heck with their neighbor.

[UtahSlim]

09:18 PM on 03/27/2012

What they really love is laying off a state worker and contracting that work to their cronies at twice the cost.

[Karelh]

02:25 AM on 03/28/2012

bingo!

[ipv4]

11:47 AM on 03/28/2012

Exactly!!!!

[gerald4]

06:11 PM on 03/27/2012

Early US citizens such as early pioneers and settlers of the US westward expansion had to provide their own military (defense against Indians), police, firefighters, school teachers, medicine, water, sewer, roads, bridges, welfare, social services, and other basic services themselves as best as they could with their limited resources.

Only after the early pioneers and settlers could produce enough necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing) for themselves and had an excess to also support a (rudimentary) civilization, they would then combine their meager resources/or and confiscate taxes themselves to hire public sector bureaucrats as teachers, soldiers, water system operators, police, firefighters, and other services but they limited the cost of these bureaucrats to the number and the bureaucrats pay that the wealth producers could afford and/or wanted to support.

The producers would also pool their resources and hire contractors to construct roads, bridges, water systems, sewer systems, and other infrastructre that allowed the producers to become more productive.

Tax supported government bureaucrats, teachers, soldiers, water system operators, police, firefighters, and government contractors that do not create taxable WEALTH do allow the WEALTH producers to become MORE PRODUCTIVE by relieving the producers of having to worry about providing those services for themselves (and for the producer’s families), but the producers limited their expenses for bureaucratic provided services to the limitations governed by the amount of tax revenues that they wanted to pay.

[gerald4]

06:17 PM on 03/27/2012

The principle of limiting the amount of wealth that can be CONFISCATED from the wealth producing workers in the form of taxes to pay for bureaucratic services and government contracts has always been applicable.

A Ms Peggy Fikac, of the Houston Chronicle in the Sunday August 14, 2011 paper quotes Texas Governor Rick Perry with saying,

“As Americans, we realize that there is no taxpayer money that wasn’t first earned by the sweat and toil of one of its citizens. That’s why we reject this president’s unbridled fixation on taking more money out of the wallets and pocketbooks of American families and employers and giving it to a central government.”

I like that statement.

Only the private sector businesses and corporations generate and create JOBS for US citizens to create new NATIONAL WEALTH for those same US businesses, and that new NATIONAL WEALTH is then available as business profits, private personal income, property taxes and personal inheritance to be CONFISCATED through taxation TO PAY FOR GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATIC EMPLOYEE PAYROLLS, GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS, OTHER GOVERNMENT EXPENSES, at every federal, state, county, and local level.

Paying for Government contracts and grants consume the US economic capability, resources and strength the same as GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATIC EMPLOYEE PAYROLLS and other government expenses consume the economic capability and strength of the USA.

[Breth]

12:08 AM on 03/28/2012

"Only the private sector businesses and corporations generate and create JOBS for US citizens"

The 22.6 million Federal, State and local government employees will be surprised to hear that.

http://www.census.gov/govs/apes/

[Tim Mcgill]

04:01 PM on 03/28/2012

You argue against yourself and misunderstand where wealth comes from. It's complicated, but what's important here is that ALL work whether accomplished by a gov or private employee creates value. It doesn't really matter what channels pay for them. We have a very big problem now in the ability for the already wealthy to suck the value from the working class. In that way, it's the private companies that are doing great harm to our economy. You would do better to focus on that.

[mikeodonnell2011]

05:58 PM on 03/27/2012

I know Texas loves to layoff teachers

[TheFrog1]

09:25 PM on 03/27/2012

The most perplexing queston about Texas: How dumb could you be and STILL get elected governor?

[Karelh]

02:30 AM on 03/28/2012

never underestimate the US public's ability to to dumb ourselves down.

[Scoppertop]

11:59 PM on 03/29/2012

#39!

[Proud Progressive]

08:08 AM on 03/28/2012

And Firemen, and Police, actually the only public servants spared in Perry's budget cuts were......
Prison guards, cause in Texas we would rather jail you than educate you.

[mjtaylor22]

05:39 PM on 03/27/2012

they ran on jobs..got elected then ran off with the dam jobs..........mixed messaging anyone...............

[MotivatedInOhio]

05:32 PM on 03/27/2012

Ohio went red in the last election, and it was disastrous for our state. I hope that teaches those who sat out the election, the importance of voting.

[whyus]

12:08 AM on 03/28/2012

Yes! Democrats 2012!!

[redhead55]

04:25 PM on 03/27/2012

Great video on republicans budget cutting claims ---

http://crooksandliars.com/kenneth-quinnell/afge-activist-destroys-republican

[LHoney]

07:41 AM on 03/28/2012

That was great! Thanks for sharing!

[redhead55]

08:40 PM on 03/28/2012

My pleasure!

[Scoppertop]

12:06 AM on 03/30/2012

F&F and thanks.... from redhead57!

[redhead55]

09:30 AM on 03/30/2012

Thanks, red!!!