Florida spends little on its workforce as a whole, ranking last in the nation in per capita spending on state personnel. State training dollars as a percentage of total salary also are among the lowest in the country -- 0.89 percent.
I've got an article coming out in Governing soon that examines the upsides and downsides of various types of personnel expenditure reductions--furloughs, pay cuts, layoffs, etc. -- that state and local governments have been using to weather their budget crises. There's an argument to be made that each type of reduction fits best for particular situations.
Given Florida's already low personnel spending and the fact that the state has been particularly hard hit by the housing downturn, which is likely putting even greater demand on state services, I'm stumped about which type of cut Florida would be best advised to make, if they have to make a workforce expense reduction. Of course, many in the state are arguing that they shouldn't be making that cut in the first place.
