Conservative Budget Cuts Hurting State Economies

Submitted by Debby

The Center for American Progress study shows that states that increased spending enjoyed, on average:

• 0.2 percentage point decrease in the unemployment rate

• 1.4 percent increase in private employment

• 0.5 percent real economic growth since the start of the recessio

States that cut spending saw on average:

• 1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate

• 2.1 percent loss of private employment

• 2.9 percent real economic contraction relative to the national economic trend.

As the chart below shows, the bigger the state spending cuts, the higher the unemployment rate:

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