After a false start last week, today is the first day of furloughs for state workers in New Jersey. No one should cheer the loss of someone's wages, but our state government has grown unaffordable.
In the governor's press release, he repeats a line used by himself and legislators,
The Governor stressed it is preferable to achieve payroll savings through temporary layoffs and wage freezes rather than permanent layoffs, which would add thousands to the state’s unemployment rolls.
Our question is would this governor, or any, initiate layoffs during good economic times?
The answer, of course, is no. Tax receipts are strong enough to maintain or expand the existing workforce, and very few politicians feel like picking a fight with state workers unions without the political cover of a gloomy economy. Therefore, there is virtually no situation short of an economic collapse much worse than the current one that would launch layoffs.
That sets New Jersey taxpayers down a very dangerous and very unidirectional path.
Besides, the first question should be whether New Jersey needs a particular worker to carry out the core services of government.
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