Kevin Hassett, economic adviser to President Trump, said the closure of the US economy due to the Corona pandemic represented a shock of historic proportions.
According to Reuters, Hassett said the national unemployment rate would rise to 16% or more this month.
"It is really a dangerous situation," Hassett told ABC television
"I think this is the biggest negative shock our economy has experienced so far," Hassett added. We will see an unemployment rate close to the rates we witnessed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Public isolation measures across the country to curb the spread of the new Corona virus have damaged the US economy, as companies closed and caused unemployment to rise.
A record 26.5 million Americans have filed for jobless benefits since mid-March and retail, homebuilding and consumer confidence have been affected.
"I think the unemployment rate will jump to perhaps about 16 percent in the next jobs report due out on May 8, including April data," Hassett told reporters at the White House.
He added that the change in gross domestic product in the second quarter would be a big negative number.
"I think the next two months will look terrifying," said Hassett. "You will see worse numbers than anything we have seen before," he said, referring to the US economic data.
"We'll need really big, thoughtful policies to put them together so people will be optimistic again," Hassett said.
"We hope to talk to the president about this ... to start putting forward the first five or six ideas that we would like to discuss with Congress," he added.
Congress had agreed to spend three trillion dollars to mitigate the impact of the Corona virus, confirming the parties ’support for workers who have lost their jobs and the economy in a very difficult situation.
