HARRISBURG -- Friday will be the last day of work for 319 state employees being laid off this week, the governor's office announced today.

The employees will be put on administrative leave until Dec. 4, allowing them to collect two additional weeks of pay. They also will be encouraged to apply for other commonwealth jobs as they occur.

It isn't yet clear exactly which individual employees will be laid off because notices have not yet gone out and because those with seniority will be allowed to bump newcomers from their jobs.

The Department of Environmental Protection will furlough 138 employees or 5 percent of its workforce. The Historical and Museum Commission will furlough 85 people, or a third of its employees. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will lose nine full-time employees and will shorten the work season for seasonal workers.

No state parks will close, but several historical sites will be shuttered temporarily because there will be no employees to staff them and give tours. They include Old Economy Village in Ambridge.

The announcement brings to 769 the total number of executive-branch employees who have been laid off since January. That doesn't include job losses in departments outside the governor's jurisdiction, such as Treasury, which furloughed 60 over the summer.

Administration officials could not immediately say how many of the 319 being furloughed work in the Pittsburgh region, but did say that about a third are based in central Pennsylvania.

The layoffs will save the state $16.7 million over the next 12 months, Secretary of Administration Naomi Wyatt said.

She could not say how much the state will spend for unemployment benefits or pension payouts for those who leave state employment.

One union official says the overall savings could be negligible.

"The state's unemployment compensation is self-insured and that's two-thirds of employees' pay. That itself shows that cutting personnel isn't really a big savings," said David Fillman, executive director of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 13, with represents Pennsylvania.

Old Economy Village, a 19th Century village in Beaver County that has served as a window into a lost era of utopian communes, faces permanent closure -- one of six such sites around the state endangered by a 43 percent cut in the budget for the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, a spokesman announced yesterday.

"Basically it's a result of the budget that was enacted 100 days late and our budget, our 2009-2010 budget was reduced by $15.7 million," said Kirk Wilson, a spokesman for the commission.

Founded in 1824, Old Economy was started by the Harmony Society, or Harmonists, who left Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1803. The group was founded by Johann George Rapp, who defied the Lutheran Church in his native state, declaring himself a religious prophet.

The group was pacifist and also expected a return by Christ during the lifetime of its members.

The group initially settled in Butler County before locating on a tract of land in Ambridge, Beaver County.

One of the major studies of the group was authored by historian Robert Paul Sutton.

Mr. Wilson, the historic commission spokesman, said the future of Old Economy and five other sites will hinge on whether volunteer organizations will be able to pick up the slack for their operation. The remaining budget for those sites will go toward maintenance only.

Also facing closure are the Somerset Historical Center in Somerset County; the Daniel Boone Homestead in Berks County; Graeme Park and Hope Lodge in Montgomery County; and Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County.

The commission also plans to do winter closures on another five historic sites: Cornwall Iron Furnace, Drake Well Museum, Eckley Miners Village, The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum and the Anthracite Museum of Scranton.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.