According to the Legislative Analysts Office, the California administration’s UI Trust Fund forecast shows that UI benefit payments will exceed state payroll tax contributions by $1.1 billion in 2023. The administration anticipates this imbalance will increase to $1.5 billion in 2024.
The report was issued July 7, 2023. Here is the release:
In a recent forecast, the administration estimates that the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund is now paying out more in UI benefits than it receives in UI payroll taxes.
State Forecasts UI Trust Fund Condition Twice Each Year. The Employment Development Department (EDD) oversees the state’s UI program. The EDD pays UI benefits for unemployed workers out of the state’s UI Trust Fund. Employers pay regular UI payroll taxes into the fund. These payroll taxes are used to pay out benefits. In May and October each year, EDD publishes a two-year forecast of UI benefits, UI payroll tax receipts, and other key fiscal information related to the state’s UI Trust Fund.
Administration Foresees Structural Insolvency Beginning in 2023. As shown in the graphic, the administration’s UI Trust Fund forecast shows that UI benefit payments will exceed state payroll tax contributions by $1.1 billion in 2023. The administration anticipates this imbalance will increase to $1.5 billion in 2024 (the final year of the current fund forecast). Historically, benefit payments have only exceeded contributions during major economic downturns – most recently, during the pandemic and Great Recession. For the first time, the fund is expected to be out of balance during a period of job growth.
Key Drivers of the Imbalance. The structural imbalance anticipated by the administration reflects the continuation of a long-term trend within the UI system: on average, annual UI payroll taxes have grown more slowly than benefit payments. For this period, specifically, UI payroll taxes remain flat from 2022 through 2024 at about $5.3 billion annually. This reflects the offsetting effects of increased employment, which pushes contributions upward, combined with lower average UI payroll taxes due to recent declines in the use of UI. UI benefit payments, on the other hand, are anticipated to grow from $5 billion in 2022 to $6.8 billion in 2024 due mainly to recent wage growth (which pushes up the average weekly UI benefit amount) and somewhat higher unemployment.
Temporary Increase in Federal UI Taxes Not Sufficient to Offset Imbalance… As we detailed here, the state took on about $20 billion in federal UI loans to continue paying UI benefits during the pandemic after running through all of the state trust fund reserves. Under longstanding federal law, when the state has outstanding federal loans employers pay a payroll tax surcharge that increases each year until the loans are repaid. The surcharge revenue goes into the state UI trust fund where it is first used to pay benefit payments. Any remainder repays the principal on the federal loan. Surcharge revenue are expected to be about $400 million in 2023 and $900 million in 2024, less than the anticipated gap between regular tax contributions and benefit payments.
…Meaning State’s Outstanding Federal UI Loan Set to Increase. As the administration expects the underlying gap to worsen faster than the federal surcharge revenues increase, the annual fund imbalance is expected to continue despite federal payroll tax surcharges. Consequently, the administration expects the outstanding federal UI loan balance to increase by more than $1 billion over the two-year period, from $19 billion in 2022 to $20.3 billion in 2024. The state pays the interest on these loans from the General Fund. This interest payment is expected to be about $300 million in 2023-24.
Structural Imbalance Consistent with Preliminary LAO Forecast. The administration’s expectation that the state’s UI trust fund is now structurally insolvent is in-line with our office’s preliminary projections.
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