Forcing all newly-hired state and local workers to participate in Social Security would cost public employers and employees in jurisdictions not now covered by the program $44 billion over the first five years, according to a July 2005 update of a 6-year-old study by The Segal Company.

The estimate is nearly double the $26 billion that mandatory coverage was projected to cost in Segal's 1999 report. That report concluded that the costs could lead to cuts in retirement benefits for public employees, financial uncertainty in public pension funds and pressure on state and local governments to raise taxes or cut public services, while adding just two years to the projected solvency of Social Security.

For the full update, click here.