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The B.C. government is laying off hundreds of workers and freezing MLA pay increases because of tight finances.

Layoff notices have gone out to 233 employees in the Ministry of Forests and in the Ministry Citizens' Services, according to a report released Wednesday.

NDP Leader Carole James said the cuts are a sign the government does not have a handle on the economic situation.

"Because they weren't upfront about the challenges we're facing, they're scrambling," James said.

One government minister held out some hope for the laid-off employees.

Many workers who received layoff notices in September 2009 managed to be placed elsewhere in the public sector, according to Citizens' Services Minister Ben Stewart.

Stewart said he hoped that would be the case with the latest layoffs, too.

It was also announced Wednesday that members of the B.C. legislature would not be getting their annual cost-of-living pay adjustment for the next two years.

It is being frozen because of the current strain on government revenues brought on by the recession, Premier Gordon Campbell said.

The freeze would cover the same period as new contracts for public-sector workers, who are being told there is no money.

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