U.S. jobless rate will get worse: White House adviser

Reuters Videos
Updated

The staggering U.S. unemployment rate may get even worse.

That's what senior White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CBS News on Sunday, saying the nation could see rates rise to levels not seen since the 1930s.

"To get unemployment rates, like the ones we're about to see, to get back to your question, which I think will climb up toward 20 percent by next month, you have to really go back to the Great Depression to see that."

Last week the U.S. Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate surged to 14.7% in April, the worst numbers since the end of the Second World War.

And scenes like this can be found across the country: food distribution centers in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Little Rock, Arkansas, from Dallas to Brooklyn, Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Last week a study by the Brookings Institute found that in April nearly one-in-five U.S. households experienced food insecurity.

And in homes with mothers and kids under twelve, one-in-five said children weren't getting enough to eat.

The Democratic Speaker of the House last week said the next government spending bill needed to boost food-stamp benefits.

"The American people know it. The food banks are overwhelmed."

Congress has since March passed bills allocating $3 trillion to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including taxpayer money for individuals and companies to blunt the economic impact.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary on Sunday said the White House was considering another round of stimulus checks to help Americans make ends meet. But he stressed that the next round of federal dollars would come with conditions.

"The President has said and wants to make sure before we rush back and do the next bill and spend more taxpayer money, we just want to be thoughtful. So there's a lot of things we're considering that are on the table."

Democrats, who control the House, are pushing for a vote as soon as this week on another massive relief bill that would include more money for state and local governments, coronavirus testing and the U.S. Postal Service.