Jul 29, 2008 9:52 pm US/Pacific
Students Facing Hard Times From State Job Cuts
Reporting
Anny Hong
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
In less than 48 hours, Governor Schwarzenegger is set to sign an executive order to slash hundreds of thousands of state workers' pay and get rid of thousands more jobs.
Those workers are on edge, wondering if they'll have a job at the end of the week, but some of those state workers are students who say they may suffer the most.
Picking up his eight-year-old daughter, Brad Shaw can only wonder if he'll be picking up his last paycheck in the coming days. Shaw will be a senior at Sacramento State, majoring in Environmental Studies.
"Not sure what's going to happen to me," he said.
Shaw has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board for the past two years as a student assistant. During the summer, the single father works 40 hours a week for $12 an hour.
"Without this income coming in, I can't pay basic bills and rent," Shaw said. "This could put me out on the street."
Shaw is one of 22,000 temporary and student workers who could be laid off as early as Thursday.
That's when Governor Schwarzenegger is planning to sign an executive order that includes cutting 200,000 state workers' pay to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.
"Each agency is going through staff lists and finding out how many are crucial to public safety and how many are not," said Aaron McLear, the governor's press secretary. "They'll let us know how many of the 22,000 are going to be let go."
Shaw can only hope for the best. For now, he's working on his resume, planning on applying for jobs in construction and warehouse work so he can keep food on the table for his family.
"My last paycheck will cover last month's rent," he said. "If I miss a single week of next month, I won't have this apartment next month."
The layoffs will go into effect immediately once the governor signs the executive order.
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