President Donald Trump’s top security adviser Kevin Hassett attempted to put a rosy spin on a Labor Department report which found the number of layoffs across the U.S. at their highest number in two years, along with continued uncertainty over the economy.
Hassett, who chairs the White House National Economic Council, appeared on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday, where he suggested the figures in the report appeared grimmer than the reality due to “a problem with the way the surveys work,” as well as this fall’s record-breaking government shutdown.
“We still have to get, like, the government data that we lost because of the shutdown,” he said. “One of the things we’re seeing is that payroll surveys, where they call up firms and say, ‘Hey, how many people do you have working for you?’ that they’re showing much lower growth than household surveys where we ask people, ‘Do you have a job?’”
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“And so it could be that what’s going on right now is that there’s a problem with the way the surveys work,” he continued. “I’ll be able to talk to you in a week or so when we finally get the data we need to assess that. But the bottom line is that GDP growth is 4% right now and accelerating into next year with all the capital spending we’re seeing, and there’s never really ever in my memory, going all the way back to World War II … has there been growth that high without job creation.”
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, published by the Labor Department Tuesday, found that the number of layoffs across the U.S. rose to 1.9 million ― the highest figure since January 2023 ― in October. Though the number of job openings rose slightly from 7.66 to 7.67 million, the report also found a significant drop in the number of people quitting their jobs, often cited as a barometer of confidence in the labor market.
Hassett — who in 2024 had assets worth at least $7.6 million, according to Bloomberg ― is widely reported to be Trump’s top pick for the next Federal Reserve chair.
Elsewhere in his chat with Ingraham, Hassett attempted to shift most of the blame for the current economic concerns to Democrats and especially former President Joe Biden.
“The fact is that Joe Biden dug a big hole, and we’re filling the hole really fast,” he said. “So what’s going to happen is people are going to look in their wallets and they’re going to understand how good Trump has been for the economy, as they did in 2019 as well.”
As for headlines in the “liberal media” which indicate that voters have lost confidence in Trump’s handling of the economy, he noted, “That’s because of the Democrats’ shutdown.”