Deficient Math at JS Local Desk

Walker orders a reduction in pay for some County employees. The JS reports:

For affected county workers, losing five hours of reduced pay a week would amount to about a 12.5% cut.

Maybe, but not really.

Let's assume that this reduction begins on June 1st; that means that the employees will lose 12.5% of their pay for 7 months of the year 2009.

Conventional 'compensation calculations' are annualized. In fact, the affected employees will undergo a 7.29% reduction in 2009 pay ([12.5%/12]X7). That's a hit, to be sure.

But it's not quite as bad as the JS' article would make it--if you accept convention.