Overall, 6.8 percent of the state work force has been shed in the past 18 months, through attrition, early retirement, hiring freezes, privatization and, in some cases, layoffs. The figures, compiled by The Salt Lake Tribune from state data, include all executive-branch departments, higher education and the courts, but do not include schoolteachers, who are paid at the district level. Relatively little of the downsizing has been achieved directly through layoffs, said Jeff Herring, executive director of the Department of Human Resource Management. Fewer than 100 state workers actually have had their jobs eliminated through reductions-in-force.
The 6.8 percent reduction in state jobs is a significantly higher rate of contraction than has taken place in Utah’s job picture as a whole. According to figures from the Department of Workforce Services, overall employment shrank by just 3.5 percent in the period from December 2008 to June 2010. The Salt Lake Tribune
