Many in America may not be losing their jobs — but they are being asked to take cuts in salaries, often by 10 percent. Even New York’s Governor took a similar cut from his salary to show solidarity with workers in his state just this month.

There seems to be some magic about 10 percent. It’s a number being applied not just to layoffs and paychecks but to expenses companies, foundations and non-profits need to reign in as well.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York cut its operating budget by 10 percent this year, and editors at Condé Nast (publisher of Vogue and Vanity Fair) are being told to cut their budgets by 10 percent.

While not a steep cut, 10 percent is still sizeable, especially if it’s yet another trim from a family’s income that’s already feeling the sting. Maybe one spouse has lost her job, and if the other person’s salary is cut by one-tenth, that can be a painful adjustment.

But for those who are still holding steady, finding ways to cut expenses by 10 percent is a good move. Imagine saving another 10 percent into a savings account — in case something does happen to a job — or putting it down to pay a credit card, or held on to for a child’s college education, or even for retirement.

Cutting 10 percent from our household expenditures doesn’t have to be that painful either — although it’s not easy. However, there are ways. For example, a premium channel cut from a cable bill can save 10 percent of a payment.

And how about a free phone? Not far-fetched anymore. Telephony phone services — which are routed over the Internet — are offering pretty steep savings for families, with quality that is getting very close to a wire line. Vonage is one example, and Google Voice is another, which rolled out a limited run in the last week or so, and charges only for international calls. That can be a savings of $50 or more a month.

Cutting back by 10 percent is not a bad way to look at how we all should be living today anyway. If corporations cut all expenses back by 10 percent — more jobs would certainly be saved. Maybe I’m a socialist, but with fewer people on unemployment, less homes would go into foreclosure, fewer families would lose health care and be put at risk for bankruptcies over a catastrophic illness, and we’d likely pull ourselves out of this national recession even sooner.

All for just 10 percent.