Paul Ryan's Budget Would Destroy 2 Million Jobs In Single Year: EPI

The budget plan that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled on Tuesday would eliminate 2 million jobs in 2014, according to a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

If implemented, Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" plan would shrink the U.S. economy by 1.7 percent and increase the unemployment rate by 0.6 to 0.8 percentage points, EPI found.

Ryan's proposal to cut the budget by $4.6 trillion over the next 10 years would depend largely on slashing domestic spending. But it has little chance of becoming law, according to political experts.

"In short, the Ryan budget would reduce middle class living standards, both present and future," Andrew Fieldhouse, a federal budget policy analyst at EPI, wrote in the report.

Many economists agree that slashing government spending in a weak economy destroys jobs.

The government already is making harsh spending cuts likely to impact the economy. The sequestration -- automatic spending cuts that took effect on March 1 -- will eliminate about 750,000 jobs this year if it is not adjusted or repealed, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The government has already cut 740,000 jobs since President Barack Obama took office, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate would have been 7.2 percent in February -- instead of 7.7 percent -- if government employment levels had stayed the same since the end of 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal.