For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 22, 2010
Contact: Karen Conner or Eve Turow, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

The large majority of the increase in the federal budget deficit in recent years is a direct result of the recession, which has left millions of workers unemployed or underemployed, reducing tax receipts and requiring increased safety net spending.  

The chart in today’s Snapshot identifies three key sources of the projected $1.2 trillion increase in the federal budget deficit since the start of the recession through 2010. While the jobs lost due to the recession contribute to a higher deficit in a variety of ways, unemployment insurance payments are a relatively small factor. Expanded unemployment insurance payments account for 11.4% of the increase in the deficit since the recession began.