President Joe Biden’s economic adviser mistakenly said Easter was in the month of March in 2021, arguing it was a reason why unemployment numbers were worse than expected.
“I think Easter happened in March this year, the seasonal adjustments were a little funny within the BLS report,” White House Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse said.
Easter was on April 4th in 2021.
Rouse appeared at the White House press briefing Friday to discuss the latest discouraging economic numbers.
She stressed there would be some “choppiness” in the month-to-month numbers and encouraged Americans to watch overall trends.
“I think it’s really important not to read too much into that one report,” she said.
But the administration is currently facing a series of disappointing economic reports.
Manufacturing output rose just 0.4 percent in April, less than expected and consumer sentiment crashed in the first weeks of May. Retail sales in April also remained unchanged from March.
Rouse warned that the depth of the pandemic would mean a long struggle to restoring the American economy.
“Let’s face it, the pandemic — we all hope to be on the other side of the pandemic, you know, next year,” she said. “There may be some tailwinds, you know, just because, again, this was unprecedented.”