Unemployment Levels To Remain High For An Extended Period Of Time

Close aides of President Obama have hinted that U.S. employers will not hire many workers in 2010 and the unemployment rate will remain around 9.7 percent for an extended period of time.

Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, and White House Budget Director, Peter Orszag, said in a joint statement that unemployment rate may rise in the next few months. They predicted the economy will add 100,000 jobs a month on an average, which is not enough to bring the unemployment rate below 9.7 percent.

However, they reiterated a 3 percent growth forecast for the world’s largest economy in 2010 and increased the growth projections to 4.3 percent for 2011 and 2012.