"It’s pretty likely that there will be a fourth phase of stimulus” and said we could see it “sooner rather than later.” White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett said.
Hassett also said that there are some technical things that need to be fixed from the previous stimulus packages.
Hassett denied the need for another stimulus bill due to economic numbers being worse than initially anticipated. However, Hassett said that "there is still a lot of pain out there.” The advisor added that 70% of businesses are opening up and “we are getting back to normal.”
Hassett said a “technical glitch” in the form of a surveying error led to a higher percentage of unemployed Americans in the April report, commenting on unemployment,
He said unemployment could be between 18-22% for the May report depending on whether the surveying error gets fixed.
The economist said he expects June’s report to be worse, but that June could also be a “turning point” and the employment number could “head in the right direction.”
“I think that June will be a little bit higher; we can already tell because of like when the survey happened and what is happening with claims. So I would expect that the turning point will be June,” he said. “We’ll see a very bad number for May, and then I think that in June, it will start to head in the right direction, given the number of businesses open.”
