State unemployment insurance systems across the U.S. aren’t ready for the likely surge in worker claims from the U.S. economic downturn triggered by the new coronavirus pandemic.

States, which administer unemployment insurance programs, rely on employer taxes for trust-fund money that they use to pay unemployment benefits.

Despite a historically long economic expansion, 22 states and jurisdictions’ unemployment trust funds are unprepared to pay out enough in unemployment benefits in the event of a recession, according to Labor Department data. For a trust fund to be recession-ready, it must have enough to pay benefits through a yearlong recession.

As the pandemic shuts down businesses across the nation, economists are warning that the U.S. should brace for a recession, meaning unemployment insurance will be looked to as a key source of relief for workers laid off during the crisis. But states such as California, New York and Ohio haven’t fully replenished their unemployment trust funds since the 2007-09 recession.

“We’ve had an 11-year economic expansion when we could have increased employer taxes to build up sufficient reserves,” said Zach Schiller, research director at Policy Matters Ohio, a research institute that advocates for an equitable economy. “Because we’ve been unwilling to finance the system adequately, the federal government will have to shoulder more of the costs.”