WASHINGTON (AP) — The new chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers said Sunday that Americans can expect to see the high unemployment rate continue for some time.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Austan Goolsbee, who assumed the council chairmanship Thursday, said the recession that began in 2007 put the U.S. economy deep in the hole and it’s going to be a long struggle to get out.
The unemployment rate is now at 9.6 percent, and Mr. Goolsbee declined to speculate what it might be at the end of the year.
But he said he doesn’t think the rate will be coming down significantly any time in the near future.
Mr. Goolsbee takes over the council’s chairmanship from Christina Romer, who left the White House earlier this month to return to teaching.
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