White House report: Debt limit default could cost 8.3 million U.S. jobs

[May 04, 2023]  (Reuters) - A protracted default on U.S. payment obligations could result in the loss of 8.3 million jobs and a 6.1% reduction in economic output, according to an analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers released on Wednesday.

People wait in a line outside a newly reopened career center for in-person appointments in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud/File Photo

Such an unprecedented default "would likely lead to severe damage to the economy, with job growth swinging from its current pace of robust gains to losses numbering in the millions," the council said in the report.

Even a more modest, "short" default scenario that is quickly resolved could lead to a loss of 500,000 jobs and a 0.6% reduction in real GDP, the council said.

(Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal in Washington; and Leslie Adler)

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