More than 1,000 state employees are expected to lose their jobs as part of Connecticut's efforts to address a $900 million budget deficit, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said.
Malloy told reporters the exact number of workers to be dismissed has not been determined, but it could easily approach 2,000.
"It's hard adjusting to this new economic reality. It requires hard decisions to be made," the Democratic governor said after a tour of a state laboratory in Rocky Hill.
Already, the Department of Correction has said 147 workers will lose their jobs. Commissioner Scott Semple said in a memo Thursday to department employees that the layoff notifications are expected to begin going out around mid-April.
"For those of you who are ultimately impacted directly, my hope is that you may take some amount of solace in the knowledge that these actions are in no way a reflection of you," Semple wrote. "It is an unfortunate business decision that we must face as part of a new economic reality challenging our State."
Other agencies are expected to announce cuts in the coming weeks.
The current fiscal year is at least $220 million in deficit while the new fiscal year is projected to be $900 million in the red. Each year's budget is roughly $20 billion.
The governor's office next week is expected to release a revised budget to cover the final $360 million of the budget gap of the coming fiscal year.