By KRWG News
New Mexico – The number of retiring New Mexico public-sector employees has spiked in the past two years but officials can't pinpoint a reason for the increase.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/v1Gjmv) that state officials and union leaders say an aging workforce and budget cuts that have caused workers' take-home pay to be trimmed, and more stringent return-to-work laws could be among factors at work.
According to the state's two public retirement systems, a total of 4,145 public-sector employees had retired across New Mexico in 2011 as of December.
In 2002, a total of 2,625 employees filed for retirement.
Jan Goodwin, executive director for the Educational Retirement Board, said officials have been expecting a jump in retirements due to the large number of employees who recently became eligible to receive full retirement benefits.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.