Layoffs vs. Cutting Services

On Wednesday, Governor Minner implemented a hiring freeze on state positions and requested an additional five percent cut from agency budgets for fiscal year 2009, bringing total agency reductions to eight percent. The Governor commented on not laying off state employees at this time, but did not guarantee that alternative would be excluded if revenues continue to dwindle. The Governor is clearly "putting people first" as Jeffrey Pfeffer stated in Chapter Nine on Employment. She publicly demonstrated her support and value for the State’s workforce, especially when facing hard fiscal times. There are costs associated with laying personnel off (unemployment insurance, potential Medicaid eligibles, loss of income tax) and the State of Delaware is the largest employer in the State; however at what point is it a disservice to the citizenry of Delaware to have programs and services reduced at the cost of not laying personnel off? There are 17,500 state employees, yet there are 853,476 citizens that benefit from the State. The State’s leaders are faced with an ethical dilemma. Is the livelihood of one individual or hundreds of people more important than the services provided to the 853,476? I believe it would depend what services were reduced or eliminated, how the change would directly impact me and how the change would affect the majority of the citizens of Delaware. Friedman might argue that this would be a great opportunity to look toward privatization of government services, which could avoid lay offs and prevent loss of services.