Fed Sees High Unemployment All Next Year

If President Obama were hoping for a quick election-year turnaround in the jobless rate, the Federal Reserve burst his bubble today. The Fed projected unemployment will be at 8.6% at the end of 2012, not much better than the 9.1% registered in September of this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. The projections don't get remarkably better after that: The Fed sees the rate at 8% by the end of 2013 and 7.7% the following year.

GDP projections are down, too, but don't look for the Fed to take action anytime soon, notes the New York Times. "We have taken a lot of actions," said Ben Bernanke. "Let me be very clear that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy is highly accommodative now." He suggested that it's time for Congress and the White House to move instead. “I think it would be helpful if we could get assistance from other parts of the government to help create more jobs." (More economy stories.)