Because the nature of the work was very 'hourly wage oriented' and there wasn't really room for 'productivity gains' ... what happened was: Avg. hours per work

Because the nature of the work was very 'hourly wage oriented' and there wasn't really room for 'productivity gains' ... what happened was: Avg. hours per worker went down - but otherwise costs remains the same. The state has to pay for 'x hours of work' to fill the demand, so why on earth did they think there would be any savings? 'Joe, you get every Friday off' 'Sue, you get to work every Friday'. ??? This might be better in a situation wherein people can simply 'get more done' in 'less time' and opt to spend less time at work.