HARRISBURG — The Rendell administration said Monday it is laying off 50 employees to balance a recession-riddled state budget.

Gov. Ed Rendell's Office of Administration said the layoffs include 19 employees from the Corrections Department and 15 from the Health Department.

Most of the layoffs, 36, were from management ranks. Another 500 jobs have been left vacant and are being eliminated, the administration said.

"It is with deep regret that we announce these furloughs," Rendell's secretary of administration, Christian Soura, said in a statement. "This administration has been cutting costs and improving efficiency for nearly eight years; long before the recession hit. However, the continued decline in state revenues and reduced funding from the federal government left us with no other options."

The budget Rendell signed in July was $28 billion, an increase of less than 1 percent. But lower-than-expected federal budget aid forced Rendell to trim another $282 million from the budget.

The administration said the number of layoffs was far below initial expectations because of retirements and a hiring freeze.

Already, the Rendell administration and the Treasurer's office laid off more than 800 people last year combined, as state revenues fell billions of dollars short of expectations over the past two years. The state work force is now 76,067, almost 7 percent smaller than it was in 2003 when Rendell took office, the administration said.

The laid-off employees will be provided with up to 10 days of paid leave.