WASHINGTON — National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Thursday that the Democrat-forced government shutdown cost the country about $15 billion per week and is expected to knock 1-1.5 percent off gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter.
Hassett spoke with White House reporters Thursday morning, hours after President Donald Trump signed a continuing resolution to reopen the government through the end of January. He outlined the economic impact the record-long 43-day shutdown has had on the nation.
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“Our Council of Economic Advisers said that it costs about $15 billion a week and it accumulates to maybe 1-1.5 percent of GDP when you account for multiplier effects,” Hassett said.
“Their current estimate is that 60,000 Americans, not government workers, have lost their jobs because of the reduced economic output,” he added.
Following up on another question, he said that heading into the quarter, GDP growth was expected to hit the 3-4 percent benchmark, which would have been on par with the previous two quarters.
“Now, you’re looking at something about half of that,” he said.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted Wednesday that the shutdown caused a significant setback in the federal government’s ability to produce key economic reports, meaning the October jobs and consumer price index reports are unlikely to materialize.
Hassett said Thursday that “there’s some data” with the September jobs report potentially coming next week but noted the October unemployment rate will never be known.
“The October employment report, for the payroll side, will be able to be calculated, but the household survey wasn’t completed, so we’ll get sort of half a jobs report,” he said.
“Most everything else, I think, we’ll be able to concoct the correct number after we look back, but we will never know what the unemployment rate was in October because there wasn’t a household survey,” he added.
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