Trump on Friday downplayed the record unemployment rate and claimed that “those jobs will be back and they’ll be back very soon.”
Asked if that promise could be kept, Kudlow said Sunday that he didn’t want to sugarcoat the numbers, which will be very difficult for May.
However, Kudlow said, “Inside the numbers, there’s a glimmer of hope … about 80 percent of it was furloughs and temporary layoffs. That, by the way, doesn’t assure that you will go back to a job, but it’s suggest strongly that the cord between the worker and the business is still intact.”
He also pushed the Congressional Budget Office’s prediction for a strong second half of the year — “probably 20 percent economic growth” — and for a “tremendous snapback” in 2021.
“I’m going to leave President Obama alone. I just want to make the case that I think is the prevailing consensus case right now,” Kudlow finished.
Still, not everyone is sold on the idea that there will be a quick economic resurgence. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari, who appeared on ABC after Kudlow, said he wishes Kudlow’s view was realistic.
“Unfortunately, this is more likely to be slow, more gradual recovery” and the worst is yet to come on the jobs front, he said. “To solve the economy we must solve the virus. Let’s never lose sight of that fact.”
