Economic data shows signs of hope, but the country isn’t in the clear yet, budget director Peter Orszag said today.
“I guess the analogy there are some glimmers of sun shining through the trees, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Orszag said on CNN’s State of the Union with John King. “We do have more work ahead.”
Orszag said the administration would review whether higher-than-expected unemployment would force changes in government spending. The administration had planned for an 8.1% average unemployment rate this year. In May, the number reached 8.9%. Higher unemployment means less tax revenue for the federal government.
“We are going to update all of these assumptions in the mid-session review in a few months so we’ll have more to say with an updated set of numbers in just a couple months,” Oszag said.