A fourth round of stimulus should help get things moving.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Friday that June could mark a turning point in massive joblessness caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He said he expects President Trump and lawmakers will still work toward a fourth round of stimulus to get the nearly frozen economy moving again.
“I think that there’s a great deal of uncertainty about how fast it will recover,” he said, saying he thought unemployment would peak in June and then start easing. “I think output will go ahead of employment, like it always does,” he said.
“The business activity turning point I think we’ve already hit, but as the people sort of roll back in I think to get jobs moving in the right direction is going to take just a little bit longer,” he said. “If you go to a business, you’ll see that they’re still working at pretty low capacity.”
Hassett said Americans continue to struggle from the shutdown of almost all economic activity, which was aimed at containing the coronavirus that has reportedly killed more than 95,000, and the White House is ready for a “Phase 4” deal with lawmakers to pass further stimulus. Unemployment hit 20 percent in May and June could be “a little bit worse than that,” he said.
When asked about the deal’s timing, Hassett said “sometime in June would be a reasonable guess.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For President Trump and members of Congress to come to an agreement about a Phase 4 stimulus package.
- For Americans to find confidence in being able to return to work and to a “new normal” way of carrying on business.
Sources: CNN, Reuters
