HARRISBURG — A leading legislative negotiator added his voice to a growing chorus of budgetary gloom Tuesday, estimating that Pennsylvania will need to find $5.6 billion to keep the budget balanced through mid-2010.

Also Tuesday, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell said the administration expected to cut the size of the state work force by 1,000 to 2,000 — estimates that were not available following the governor's announcement last week that there would be layoffs. The job cuts would represent 1.3 percent to 2.6 percent of the state's 78,000 full-time, salaried employees.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo declined to identify which departments will be cut. Rendell's budget address is Feb. 4.

The $5.6 billion figure originated with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, a veteran budget negotiator.

Evans said the state is facing a $4.3 billion income shortfall and nearly $1.3 billion in "increased bills." His total figure was considerably larger than the $2.3 billion budget gap that Gov. Ed Rendell described last week because it combines the current year's financial shortfall with what it will take to balance the 2009-10 budget.