White House Foresees 10 Percent Unemployment Before Year End

(RTTNews) - With new labor department figures showing the unemployment rate creeping up to 9.5 percent, the White House said Thursday things are likely to get worse before it gets better.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that although the President's economic stimulus and recovery package is working to slow the rate of job loss, unemployment was likely to hit 10 percent in the next few months.

"In the next two to three months I think it's quite clear that we'll hit that number," Gibbs said. "You've got to create about 150,000 jobs a month simply to have the rate stay at the level that it was the previous month."

He added, "So, yes, I think … we're definitely headed toward 10 percent."

Gibbs stressed the seriousness of the financial and economic crisis facing the country as he noted that it was likely to take time to recover.

"The recession we're in is statistically the worst since World War II," he said. "Adding in the financial situation, obviously this is the worst economic crisis that our country has dealt with since the Depression."

It has been almost 550 days since the last economic reports showed positive growth in the U.S. economy, Gibbs said.

And while the administration has pointed to signs of hope in the economy, such as Thursday's job loss figures falling well below the average of the previous quarter, Gibbs said it is likely to take a lot longer until employment, a lagging economic indicator, recovers fully.

"The President remains deeply concerned that we are losing jobs month to month," Gibbs said. "So I think there is a sense that the beginnings of stabilization are taking hold and hopefully the worst job loss is behind us."

Gibbs also deflected criticism that the $787 economic stimulus and recovery act was not doing enough to improve the economy.

"We certainly never said, that a recovery plan in and of itself would solve our economic problems," he said. "I do think there's obviously evidence that the recovery plan is working. Last month personal incomes were up as a result of the recovery plan."

He added, "The stimulus plan is injecting money into the economy. The stimulus plan has obligated $160 billion to deal with the dip in the amount of growth. The stimulus plan is creating 1,900 road and construction projects."

But President Barack Obama is still not satisfied, Gibbs said.

"The President sees this through the eyes of the American people. The American people are hurting," he said. "More and more people are losing their jobs, they're losing their health care, they're losing their hope and their opportunity. And that's what the President is focused on each and every day."

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