The U.S. government posted its second straight annual budget deficit in excess of $1 trillion as lingering unemployment constrained tax revenue. The shortfall totaled $1.294 trillion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, second only to the $1.416 trillion deficit in 2009, the Treasury Department said today in Washington.

A jobless rate projected to exceed 9 percent through 2011 points to the difficulty of narrowing the budget gap even as the global economic recovery boosts company profits and produces more corporate tax receipts. Growth in government spending may slow because of declining costs associated with the financial crisis that spawned such rescue plans as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"We still have a long way to go to repair the damage to the economy and address the long-term deficits caused by the crisis," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a statement.

The Treasury Department finances the shortfall between taxes and spending with borrowing in financial markets. The national debt totals more than $13 trillion, exceeding the size of the economy, unadjusted for inflation. The government's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.