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Pence Says U.S. Spike in Unemployment From Virus is Temporary

Pence Says U.S. Spike in Unemployment From Virus is Temporary

(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. economy will strongly rebound from mounting unemployment amid the coronavirus pandemic, after the number of jobless claims grew to 10 million over the past two weeks.

“We’ll get through this,” Pence said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Our priority is health. Our priority is the health and well being and lives of the American people.”

Pence Says U.S. Spike in Unemployment From Virus is Temporary

More than 6.6 million Americans filed jobless claims for the week ending March 28, and the total number of U.S. jobless claims reached around 10 million since businesses across the country largely shuttered two weeks ago in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The unemployment claims significantly exceeded not only the average prediction but the most dire estimate in Bloomberg’s survey of economists.

“The president has every confidence, as we help people through this time, the economy will come back stronger than ever before,” Pence said.

The jobless claims prompted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to call Thursday for a fourth spending bill to address the coronavirus crisis, in addition to a $2.2 trillion package the president signed into law last week.

“We have to get our economy going, long-range,” Schumer said Thursday in an interview with MSNBC. “I have spoken to a lot of the economic experts and they think that even after, God willing, we have erased COVID for the time being, the economy is going to take a long time to recover.”

President Donald Trump has said he would endorse a $2 trillion infrastructure bill paid for by borrowing as part of the coronavirus response. Schumer said that such a package could address “long term” concerns, but that legislation would also need to include more immediate assistance including hazard pay for medical professionals.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.