Employees of Louisiana may be missing out on salary raises

A salary cut — or at least a lack of standard raises– could be on the docket for Louisiana state employees. This would be the second year of salary freezes in the state. Employee advocates are not anxious about this possibility. Though it doesn’t include layoffs, it’s a powerful salary cut for employees. Once again this is another measure that is going to keep people looking to payday advances for survival.

Louisiana seeing raises in salary happening

There’s a huge budget deficit in Louisiana right now. It’s currently at $1.6 million. You will find yearly reviews yearly for employees. This typically leads to a salary raise up to 4 percent per person. Louisiana state employee salary increases were halted past year which saved $55 million for the state. Gov. Bobby Jindal has suggested extending these pay raise halts for the 2011-2012 budget years to continue the savings. This would freeze only annual salary raises, not raises associated with promotions.

Louisiana dealing with issues with budgets

By trying to fix the Louisiana budgetary issues with pay halts, the state legislature isn’t making friends. The staff is represented by state commission members. They say that the state is just “attempting to balance the budget on the back of workers.” Calling the pay freeze an emergency loan that will end up costing the state more money, employee supporters are making an effort to push through at least a cost-of-living adjustment for employees. Salary freezes, furlough days and layoffs are all being done in states to get the budget balanced again. In Louisiana, cutting out salary raises is a relatively low-impact measure to balance the spending budget.

Numbers for Louisiana

Louisiana is in a better position economically than most even though $2 billion needs to get cut out of the budget. Unemployment in Louisiana is at 7.7 percent right now. That's much better than the 9 percent national average. Throughout the nation, college rates have gone up drastically. However, Louisiana has one of the lowest rates for in-state tuition at state colleges. Right now, proposals are being drawn up by state commissions. March 11 can be when the final decisions will be made.

Citations

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/no-decision-made-on-louisiana-pay-raise-suspension.html