Anticipating the $15 billion in budget cuts lawmakers passed during the legislative session, state agencies have been dropping employees for more than a year. This table shows employment changes at state agencies from May 2010 to May 2011, the most current data from the State Auditor’s Office, which tracks state government employment.

You may notice the change in full-time equivalents in the table doesn't equal the combined change in full-time, part-time and contract employees. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, full-time equivalents do not represent the number of employees at an organization, whereas the latter numbers are based on a head count of real people. The number of FTEs is a representation of the workload that is calculated by dividing the total hours all employees worked by the hours one full-time employee would work. The changes in full-time, part-time and contract employees also only account for employees paid by state appropriations, whereas the number of FTEs includes work by all employees at the organization. Try to consider the percentage of funding the organization receives from state appropriations when evaluating the changes in the workforce.