The Latest from the White House on Unemployment

Rebecca Christie and Mike Dorning of Bloomberg report in "Obama Aides See Jobless Rate Elevated for ‘Extended Period’" that employment will only improve slowly. 

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. employers won’t hire enough workers this year to lower the jobless rate much below the level of 9.7 percent reached in February, three Obama administration economic officials said today.

The percent of Americans who can’t find work is likely to “remain elevated for an extended period,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, White House budget director Peter Orszag and Christina Romer, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a joint statement. The officials said unemployment may even rise “slightly” over the next few months as discouraged workers start job-hunting again.

Implicit in this report is that the labor-force participation rate will improve throughout the year. 
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