Fed officials warn weak recovery won't spur jobs from AP reports that the impending commercial real estate mortgage debt load and the struggles of small business will hold back the economy's recovery.
In separate speeches, Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, warned that rising unemployment could crimp consumers, restraining the recovery. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.
"With such a slow rebound, unemployment could well stay high for several years to come," Yellen said. "In other words, our recovery is likely to feel like something well short of good times."
Yellen envisions the shape of the recovery kind of like an "L" with a gradual upward tilt of the base.
Lockhart said "very slow net job gains" may occur "sometime next year."
Comments