Will there be another coronavirus relief bill after surprise jobs gain? What we know
May jobs report seemed to suggest nation’s economy is starting to recover from coronavirus pandemic
The better-than-expected May jobs report released last week cast fresh uncertainty on the passage of a fourth coronavirus relief package, with some key Republicans questioning whether the additional aid is necessary.
"We certainly don’t need any new spending. We’ve already spent over $2 trillion. So we don’t need another spending bill for sure," Stephen Moore, a conservative economist and adviser to President Trump, told NBC News on Friday. "We are in the recovery stage and we're no longer in the contraction stage."
US JOB GROWTH ROARED BACK IN MAY: THESE INDUSTRIES SAW THE BIGGEST GAINS
Consensus estimates predicted the economy shed somewhere around 9 million jobs in May, pushing the jobless rate close to 20 percent. Instead, the Labor Department reported Friday morning that employers actually added 2.5 million jobs last month — easily the most ever created in a one-month period — and the unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent.
The report seemed to suggest the nation’s economy is starting to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, and the related lockdowns, faster and bigger than once believed possible.
But White House officials have maintained that another round of aid is still needed to incentivize economic growth.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IF YOU REFUSE TO GO BACK TO WORK?
“There definitely will be [another stimulus package],” Kevin Hassett, a senior White House adviser, told FOX Business on Friday. “One of the things the president has instructed the team to do is to watch the numbers carefully, get as many real-time numbers as we can, and have a menu of options for him that’s conditional on how the economy is doing.”
The administration has previously said it does not intend to pass more relief measures until at least the beginning of July, although the Senate is not scheduled to return from its two-week recess until July 20.
“If we have another bunch of job numbers like we’ve seen going into July, then I could imagine it’ll be a much different phase-four bill than if we had a bunch of months like April,” Hassett said.
WHITE HOUSE MULLS MORE VIRUS RELIEF: HERE'S WHAT IT COULD INCLUDE
So far, Congress has passed four massive stimulus packages totaling nearly $3 trillion to blunt the economic pain from the virus outbreak. But Democrats and Republicans are divided about what should be included in another relief bill.
Some options currently under consideration at the White House include a payroll tax cut, liability protections for businesses reopening during the outbreak, tax deductions or write-offs for individuals who take a vacation during a defined period of time, and a back-to-work bonus for unemployed Americans returning to their jobs.
"We need to move from rescue assistance to more long-term economic growth incentives," Larry Kudlow, another senior White House economic adviser, told FOX Business on Friday.