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Economic leaders remain troubled by unemployment rateAn Associated Press report quoted Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, as saying that problems like credit card and loan delinquencies and mortgage defaults will remain substantial for the foreseeable future, largely due to the unemployment rate. The report also noted that Zoellick expects unemployment to remain high throughout 2010 and that he believes that consumer and business spending and investment will have to take over the task of building economic momentum from government stimulus efforts by the middle of next year. The current unemployment figure was higher than expected for last month, but not necessarily surprising, since for many economists it was just a matter of time until the rate would exceed 10 percent. Earlier in the week, two leading officials at the Federal Reserve raised their own concerns about the economic impact of a jobless recovery and the high unemployment rate. The Fed is expected to keep interest rates near zero for the foreseeable future in an effort to sustain some semblance of economic growth and encourage more job creation. A recent announcement from the Fed indicated that "inflation will remain subdued for some time," and said that one recent sign of economic growth is an improved housing sector. However, the report also warned that household spending, despite signs of expansion, "remains constrained by ongoing job losses" and related factors like tight credit and weak income growth. So far, more than 7 million jobs have been lost during the course of the current recession, underscoring the serious debt management problems and economic stress being faced by the unemployed.
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