Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Friday he's optimistic that the economy will bounce back, as the fundamentals remain in place, despite the coronavirus emergency.
"I am mindful of just how strong our economy was five weeks ago," Scalia said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "You know, at the start of March, we put out one of the strongest jobs reports we have seen in this country in 50 years. That's where we were. That's where we want to get back to...we had a blue-collar boom and now we want a blue-collar bounceback."
The fundamentals remain for that economy, despite the health emergency that still must be tackled, said Scalia.
"We do want to get back to work," said Scalia. "I think we have the foundation, the fundamentals, and the presidential policies in place to be optimistic about that recovery."
Several other countries, such as Denmark, Germany, and Taiwan are coming back online, and Scalia said the Trump administration is "certainly" looking at what they are doing, as well as at what the United States has done in the past.
"We look back 100 years ago dealing with the Spanish flu, and there are lessons to be learned there," said Scalia. "Discipline right now remains extremely important. We know that we will need to get back before this virus is entirely gone from among us, and we have to plan for that. We know that might not be the same date in every location. That we're all back to work. We will need to plan accordingly. But we also know that we can't wait too long. We want to bounce back. It does get harder the longer people are kept from work. We have to keep that in the balance as well."
Measures to tide workers over, such as expanded unemployment and the Payment Protection Program, are also important, said Scalia.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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