A private-sector jobs report for May revealed numbers that were so much lower than expected after coronavirus pandemic-related shutdowns that White House senior economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Wednesday he may have to examine them for himself to make sure "there's not something funny going on."
"“This ADP report is a real positive sign, and it’s such a positive sign that I really have to grab my pencil and go back to my desk and see what’s going on," Hassett said on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" about the ADP National Employment Report for May. "The number is so good, it's such good news, that I really have to dig deep into it and see if there's not something funny going on...it's way lower than I expected, in a good way."
According to the ADP report released on Wednesday, private employers cut 2.8 million jobs in May. However, Refinitiv economists had forecast 9 million jobs would be lost. The numbers were also far below the previous month's 20 million, a record setting figure.
"It's pretty far removed from what we'd get if we just added up the claims data and so on from the last survey," said Hassett. "There are definitely a lot of positive signs but i don't think we are there yet. We are still getting initial claims. We see weekly data that adds up to about what you expect."
Meanwhile, Hassett said he had expected to see job losses come to a "bottom" in June, but the "ADP number does suggest you are very, very close to a turning point."
Hassett also pointed out that because of paycheck protection program loans, there is not a wave of bankruptcies being seen.
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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