White House: Job Market Remains in "Tough Recession"

A senior Obama administration economic advisor tells CBS News the latest unemployment numbers show that "the job market remains in the grips of a tough recession."

Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Biden, says the administration still expects unemployment to hit ten percent some time later this year. But he sees some glimmers of hope. In a radio interview with CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer, Bernstein said that aside from the big factory losses, the job reduction rate throughout the economy has "diminished somewhat over the past three months." But he acknowledged it is nowhere near satisfactory.

He contends administration economic stimulus efforts "are taking hold and helping to stabilize." But noting that stabilization won't be enough, Bernstein said, "We need to see that unemployment rate come down."

He refused to say when that would happen. Bernstein continues to predict the Recovery Act will add 3.5 million jobs to the economy next year. While he points to some signs of improvement, he notes "less bad is not good enough."

Asked about some economists’ predictions of a "jobless recovery," Bernstein said there could be a technical recovery in growth terms while the labor market continues to shrink. Bernstein said that would not be a true recovery.

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Peter Maer is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.