New Jersey spends more than $3 million a year for white-collar clothing allowances

One of the advantages (or disadvantages, depending on your penchant for planning ahead) of white-collar jobs is the lack of uniform. Especially if you live in New Jersey, where the state spends nearly $5 million on clothing allowances for its white-collar workers.

 

A report from Comptroller Matthew Boxer uncovered that figure, which applies to those who don’t need to wear uniforms, the Associated Press reports.

The total $22 million annual allowance gives about 20 percent to white-collar workers like teaching aides and day car counselors, half of whom don’t wear uniforms.

Boxer called the $3 million allowance “absurd.” Under collective bargaining agreements, workers get a $700 annual clothing allowance, for which they don’t have to provide receipts.