Budget Cuts & The Public Sector

North Carolina's new budget cuts an estimated 2,203 state jobs, a number that doesn't include local jobs funded in whole or in part by state support. Analysts say that the jobs lost represent critical functions in local communities including community development planners, chaplains at minimum and medium prisons and specialists in well water maintenance. In addition, state agencies have estimated that 3,700 faculty positions in the University of North Carolina system and at community colleges will be lost.

How do public sector workers support private sector workers and what do these cuts mean for that support? Host Frank Stasio speaks with Alexandra Sirota, Director of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, and Jason McDougald who was the educational coordinator at Woodson Wilderness Challenge, a rehabilitation center for juvenile offenders before he lost his job to budget cuts.