Labor secretary says 'discipline now' in following coronavirus guidelines will end economic slump 'quickly'
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Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia reacted Friday to the March jobs report, which showed the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 4.4 percent as restrictions implemented to combat the coronavirus began to bite the economy.
"I think there’s no getting away from the fact that this is a hard period for most Americans, but let me emphasize ... [that] what was so jarring about these employment numbers that we saw today and yesterday is how strong the economy was just a month ago," Scalia told "The Daily Briefing". "We were reporting record highs a month ago."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK STATE BY STATE
Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, added that because the "fundamentals" of the economy were very strong before the coronavirus-imposed downturn, there is a good possibility that the economy could get back to where it left off if the public helps dispatch the contagion quickly.
"Discipline now -- and following the public health measures that are being urged -- will help keep this short," he said.
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"Just as this came on quickly, we have a real chance of ending it quickly because the economy has been so good and because we have in place the policies of President Trump that made the economy strong."
Scalia added that key parts of the $2.3 trillion coronavirus aid package enacted by Trump last week should help American workers in the interim, including lax provisions governing small business loans as well as cash payments to many U.S. citizens, which are expected to start going out later this month.