When it comes to layoffs and the government there is a mixed relationship. After all, the government does try to put some limits on how private sector layoffs happen in order to make them fair to the workers and preserve the local economic balance. Then again when it comes to being an employer things are a bit different for the government.

Take, for example the case of the state of Illinois. Some of you may recall our earlier coverage of jobs being cut in that state under the new budget, “It looks like some very bad news is coming to the civil servants in the state of Illinois. The Secretary of State for the state of Illinois, one Jesse White released a statement earlier this week saying that a number of state workers may have to be let go in order to deal with the state budget. If the state lawmakers fail to make more cuts to the proposed budget for the next year the state will be forced to get rid of workers in order to make ends meet. At the current moment there were no specific recommendations about what cuts should be made in order to right the budget. The new budget, which will go into effect in July, has a planned shrinkage of about two percent built into it, but the current estimates are saying that with the increased fuel and postage costs the budget will need more like five percent in order to be in line with reality when it comes to operating costs.”

This mass layoff action was just one among many in the recent past that are increasing the number of people who are being laid off in that state. The trend of layoffs are increasing in this state. According to information put out by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity layoffs impacted more than 10,000 workers in the month of August this year, many of which happened in mass layoff actions.

For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Of course the earlier layoffs, made in the state, were enough to put a good number of people out of work. Here is a look at earlier cuts in the state, “It looks like bad news is coming to the workers of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. They are getting ready to get rid of workers in a big way, a way that just may cut back on services available to those most in need. The organization is sending layoff notices to 600 people. While the organization only looking to cut back on roughly 350 people in order to set it self to right with the new budget put out for the state by the souvenir, they are sending out more layoff notices so that they have the flexibility to make decisions about who they are going to have to cut, and who is going to stay when they have a bit more information.”