Mnuchin says unemployment numbers will 'get worse before they get better'

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned on Fox News Sunday that the country's reported unemployment numbers "are probably going to get worse before they get better."

The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. lost 20.5 million jobs in April. At 14.7 percent, the jobless rate is now at its highest level since the Great Depression. With millions more Americans no longer looking for work or considered underemployed, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Mnuchin if the actual unemployment rate might be close to 25 percent. "We could be," Mnuchin responded.

Mnuchin said the unemployment crisis is "no fault of American business, this is no fault of American workers, this is a result of a virus." The economy's second quarter is going to be "very, very bad," Mnuchin continued, but there will be a "better third quarter" and a "better fourth quarter, and next year is going to be a great year."

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The White House is considering more stimulus efforts, Mnuchin said, but will wait a "few weeks" before deciding on whether to agree to another relief bill. There is definite talk of a payroll tax cut, he said, but "we're not gonna do things just to bail out states that were poorly managed." President Trump has pushed for a payroll tax cut by the idea face bipartisan opposition in Congress.