Despite discouraging data detailing how much damage the deepening pandemic is doing to the job market, White House aide Larry Kudlow defended President Donald Trump's performance on the economy. "There's a lot of suffering out there, I agree, Kudlow said. "But I will also argue, the economy has registered a very strong comeback from the peak of the pandemic contraction, including today's jobs numbers with the 6.7 percent unemployment rate," he said. The data showed employers added just 245,000 jobs last month, half of what economists were expecting. It marked a sharp step down from October’s gain of 610,000 and was the fifth straight month of slowing growth. Economists called the numbers disappointing and evidence that the worsening pandemic will likely destroy more jobs and income for the economy in the coming months, which are shaping up to be a bleak winter. However, Kudlow said the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve both predicted unemployment would be higher at the end of 2020 than the current rate, according to the Labor Department. "We are at least three percentage points below where those geniuses predicted," Kudlow said. "I call that a pretty good thing." The much weaker-than-expected jobs report may perversely have been bad enough to help kick Congress out of its paralysis and deliver more support for the economy. Hopes also remain deeply rooted on Wall Street that one or more coronavirus vaccines are coming to rescue the global economy next year. Democrats and Republicans have been making on-and-off progress on talks for another round of support for the economy, including aid for laid-off workers and industries hit hard by the pandemic. Momentum has seemed to swing back to “on” this week after Democrats signaled willingness to accept a smaller package than they were earlier demanding.