Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin downplayed a record-breaking 3.28 million Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
“To be honest with you, I think these numbers right now aren’t relevant,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview after about 2 percent of the US workforce filed for out-of-work benefits.
Mnuchin said the spike was a “short term” issue after a $2 trillion stimulus bill passed the Senate on Wednesday. The bill, which won’t be passed by the House of Representatives until Friday, along with Federal Reserve stimulus, would stabilize the economy and put people back to work, he said.
