AFP - Further Federal Reserve action to combat unemployment is "certainly possible," Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview Sunday.
Bernanke was asked on CBS television if the Fed might inject more than the 600 billion dollars planned for the November-to-June time frame.
"It's certainly possible," he said.
"It depends on the efficacy of the program. It depends, on inflation. And finally it depends on how the economy looks," Bernanke added.
The interview was done Tuesday, three days ahead of the release of monthly unemployment figures showing that US unemployment rose in November to 9.8 percent after holding steady at 9.6 percent the three previous months.
"Unemployment is just about the same as it was in mid 2009, when the economy started growing. So, that's a major concern. And it looks that at current rates, that it may take some years before the unemployment rate is back down to more normal levels," he stressed.
Asked about inequalities, Bernanke stressed there was a yawning unemployment gap based on educational achievement levels.
"If you're a college graduate, unemployment is five percent. If you're a high school graduate, it's ten percent or more. It's a very big difference," Bernanke said.
"It leads to an unequal society and a society which doesn't have the cohesion that we'd like to see."
No comments:
Post a Comment