The following letter was sent from The Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis to House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s staff regarding our recent analysis of the Chairman’s budget proposal:

In further response to the Chairman’s letter of February 28, 2011 requesting technical advice and assistance, we have given additional scrutiny to calculations concerning the unemployment rate under the Chairman’s proposed budget plan.  As a result of that examination, we are making an adjustment to one variable — the full-employment unemployment rate, which is one component of the equation for the overall unemployment rate.

Enclosed is the revised set of estimates with the adjustment.  While the adjustment has an impact on the unemployment rate in the model, the overall results elsewhere in the model do not change significantly.

Sincerely,

William Beach
Director
Center for Data Analysis