The US Federal Reserve has cautioned that unemployment levels will only ease slightly from their December figure of 10% this year. The Reserve is predicting that the situation will improve marginally over the course of the year dipping to 9.7 or perhaps 9.5%.
They think that 2011 will see a further dip in the unemployment figures towards 8.2 to 8.5%, but are clearly not optimistic that a strong recovery will generate significant employment prospects any time soon.
The Federal Reserve did revise its forecast for 2009 growth up a touch, revising the bottom figure up from 2.5 to 2.8%, but leaving the upper boundary where it was at 3.5%.
However, they cautioned that both the business sector and consumers are currently wary about increasing their spending in the present economic climate – hence the lack of stimulus within the employment market.