New York State has failed to fully pay back the nearly $1 billion it borrowed from the federal unemployment insurance system after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. This will result in more than 440,000 employers in the state facing an increase, on average, of $21 per employee in federal unemployment taxes to help pay off the debt. Some analysts say that New York was not holding adequate reserves to deal with the recession, while others say that the lack of job creation is the fundamental problem.
See "State's Failure to Pay Off Debt to U.S. Will Cost Employers", Al Baker, The New York Times, November 11, 2004