Ex-Treasury Secretary: Millions of Americans Need to Lose Their Jobs to Contain Inflation

Former Treasury Secretary and Harvard Professor Larry Summers makes remarks during a discussion on low-income developing countries at the annual IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington on April 13, 2016. Mike Theiler/AFP via Getty Images

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said that millions of Americans would have to lose their jobs in order to contain decades-high inflation.

“We need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation—in other words, we need two years of 7.5 percent unemployment or five years of 6 percent unemployment or one year of 10 percent unemployment,” said Summers, who was in charge of the Treasury under former President Barack Obama.