Bernanke: It could take four to five years for the job market to "normalize."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

7 January 2011 Last updated at 16:02 ET
Bernanke fears slow US recovery



The US economy is showing signs of a "self-sustaining recovery", but is not growing fast enough to reduce high jobless levels, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said.

Mr Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee it could take four to five years for the job market to normalise.

As well as unemployment, he said low inflation was also a concern.

"Very low inflation increases the risk that new adverse shocks could push the economy into deflation," he said.

Mr Bernanke was speaking shortly after the release of Labor Department figures showing that the US unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% in December from 9.8% in November, the biggest one-month drop since April 1998.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12136155

[ixion]

1. or ten... but hey, what's a few years when you're rolling in dough

it's only us peons who are affected, so I'm sure Helicopter Ben isn't too concerned. His buddies are a-okay.

[Fumesucker]

2. Things have already "normalized"..

What we have now is the new normal and pretty much everyone I speak to these days knows it in their gut.

[KG]

3. word. we are living the new normal.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. There's no motivation for businesses to let go of their cash...none

They know they can keep flogging "productivity gains" indefinitely. Keep the workers scared to death over the prospect of losing their jobs..."Hey, you could be like HIM"...and if you burn a worker out, just add his / her responsibilities to the person sitting next to them.

Unless there is some form of motivation for creating jobs, it's not going to happen. We still continue to handsomely reward companies that ship their jobs overseas. Why would they possibly do anything to change that?

[marmar]

5. +100

nt