Salem and Marion County will be hit especially hard by job losses resulting from cuts in the Democrats' proposed state budget.

Democratic leaders say there's no way to know exactly where the approximately 1,700 eliminated positions fall geographically.

But a good portion are in Salem-based institutions such as the state Department of Education, Department of Human Services, state schools for the blind and the deaf, and Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.

Last week the co-chairs of the Legislature's budget-writing committee released their plan to balance the state budget during the next two years. It contains $2 million in cuts to positions and programs, including about 1,700 state jobs.

Hardest hit in the budget are education, human services and public safety.

And social-service advocates say that the hidden job losses — created by big cuts in state payments to private child-care providers and people who provide in-home care to seniors and disabled residents — will fall especially hard on Marion County.

Many child-care providers in low-income areas, such as Marion County, get a substantial portion of their income from subsidized clients, said Bobbie Weber, who coordinates the Oregon Child Care Research Partnership at Oregon State University.

"That allows the facility to stay in existence and serve other families in the community," Weber said.

If those clients disappear, child- care operators may have to close their doors.

More than 1,300 child-care providers in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties care for children receiving subsidies, DHS officials said Friday. About 329 of those will be affected by the proposed reductions.

And low-wage parents who lose their child-care subsidies likely won't be able to keep working, creating a double-whammy on the economy, Weber said.

"People think of child-care as just this kind of low-impact industry. That's not true," Weber said.

Oregon also may be giving up $20 million in stimulus money aimed at the child-care subsidy program, Weber said.

The job losses emphasize the need for lawmakers to focus on eliminating barriers for business owners who are trying to create jobs, said Mike McLaren, chief executive officer of Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.

"While all job losses will be difficult for the short term, both on the individual and upon the city as a whole, we're going to have to see what the state can do to use this as an opportunity to do some restructuring," McLaren said.

SEDCOR President Ray Burstedt declined to comment, spokeswoman Susan Appleby said.