CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The unemployment rate, according to the government’s latest monthly report, jumps almost 15 percent. Milton Ezrati, chief economist for the New York-based financial communications firm Vested, called it a “depression-era unemployment rate.”
Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox that the jobless numbers in the United States "are probably going to get worse before they get better," but the bigger risk to the country is keeping businesses closed rather than states allowing some to reopen.
“I’m sure this economy is in recession now,” Ezrati said.
He said to pull out of it, there are 2 issues: One is controls and the other is convincing people it’s safe to come out, to shop and go to work.
“If we can lift these restrictions now, I think we can have people coming back [to work> pretty quickly. But if this goes on too much longer, then I think we’ve built in a more systemic problem in the economy and we might have a much longer pull coming out.
Ezrati said everything depends on if we can lift the restrictions and how quickly.