Labor Sec. Scalia: Warp Speed Will Drop Unemployment Below 5 Percent

The nation's unemployment rate will drop below 5% in 2021 because of Operation Warp Speed's success in producing and delivering COVID-19 vaccinations, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Tuesday, admitting the number is a "lofty goal" but still attainable. 

“I think this will go down as one of the great achievements in medical history, how quickly a vaccine was developed,” Scalia told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria."

"That will change things even further and I think you combine that with adherence to the kinds of policies this president had, which produced that amazing economy, and I think you do get back to 5% next year.”

The economy was "amazing" before the pandemic, Scalia said. The unemployment rate at that time was 3.5%, its lowest level since 1969. 

The Labor Department last week released its payroll report, showing that the November data, showing payroll employment for the week ending Nov. 13, showed the economy added 245,000 for the month, with unemployment falling to 6.7%. 

"When we were talking back in March and April, virtually all forecasters were saying we’d be at about 12% unemployment right now, but we’re at 6.7% unemployment," Scalia said.

"That’s not even the real number for most states because when you look at this at a state-by-state basis, what you see is that fully half the states are at 6% unemployment or lower.”

However, November's data was "not as good" as the months before, and revealed slowdowns in the government sector with losses in census workers, along with a "slight drop" in the food and beverage industry because of coronavirus restrictions. 

The CARES Act, meanwhile, was "extremely important" for economic recovery, sais Scalia, and was "part of the reason that we’ve come back so much faster than from the Great Recession under (Barack) Obama and (Joe) Biden,” Scalia said.

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