The White House adviser said that the unemployment percentage for May could be as high as 22 or 23 percent.
, the White House economic adviser responded that"we are in uncharted territory."
"Those [economists] are friends of mine...so I respect their work greatly, but I think that the problem is that we've had the biggest negative shock ever and then the biggest policy response ever. So we are kind of in uncharted territory and the thing that I'm optimistic about is we are seeing the data turn on way faster than I expected," Hassett said, adding that some states have"80, 90 percent of businesses back to being open.
President Donald Trump said Thursday during a visit to a Ford factory in Michigan that he believes there will be another stimulus bill to help struggling Americans, even as some businesses begin to reopen across the country. Hassett echoed those sentiments Friday, stating that a new stimulus bill is"pretty likely."
"We had a big economic team meeting with the president last week. We went over options and I think that as we move forward it's pretty likely that there will be a fourth phase of stimulus. There are a number of technical things that need to be fixed about stuff we did in the past. I think that pretty much folks think now there will be another bill," Hassett said, adding that it will come"sooner rather than later.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 03: Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett fist-bumps reporters outside the White House May 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. Hassett answered questions about Friday's positive jobs numbers, where the U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in April.
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