In the US, the annual supplementary federal expenditure has amounted to only about 1% of GDP in recent years. It is thus clear that a eurozone unemployment insurance system would never be able to offset major shocks, such as those hitting Ireland or Greece, where GDP has shrunk by more than 10%.
此外，失业救济并不像通常认为的那样重要。在大部分国家，它们只占GDP的2—3%，即使在发生严重衰退时也是如此。在美国，年度补充性联邦支出在近几年只占GDP的1%。因此，显然，欧元区失业保险体系不可能抵消主要冲击，如爱尔兰和希腊受到的冲击，这两个国家的GDP下降了超过10%。