MADISON - The state has hired 83 more workers to deal
with a surge in unemployment claims.
Department of Workforce Development spokesman Richard Jones says the new short-term workers have already been hired and will boost
the group by 20 percent.
Some are agency retirees and will start by January at hourly salaries of between $15 and $17 an hour.
Preliminary state figures show Wisconsin lost 32,400 jobs in November compared with the same month in 2007, falling to 2.87
million, while the unemployment rate shot upward that month.
The workers' salaries are federally funded and will cost about $215,000 a month.
The hiring comes as Gov. Jim Doyle wants to reduce the number of state workers by 700 in response to a $5.4 billion projected state budget shortfall.
Story By: Associated Press