Study shows that furloughs saving less than expected

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Furloughs saving less than expected, study says
by Wyatt Buchanan
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/16/BA271A68U4.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

Savings for California from a three-day-per-month furlough for state workers are significantly less than the governor's estimates, according to a UC Berkeley study released Thursday.

The furloughs, which amount to nearly a 14 percent pay cut for 193,000 state workers, are supposed to save the state $1.3 billion this fiscal year. But it will actually save a little more than half that and the savings will decline significantly - to $236 million - as the real costs of furloughs play out over the next few years, the study found.

"If the goal of the furlough program is savings to the general fund, I think our conclusion is quite clear that this program is poorly designed," said Ken Jacobs, chairman of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley, which conducted the study.

As a college student whose gone through several cancelled classes and full furlough days, I find this ridiculous!