Economists say recovery will be slow

NEW YORK, July 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. unemployment rate will likely top 10 percent in 2010, a survey of 49 economists released Monday said.

USA Today reported its monthly survey, conducted July 16-22, found half the respondents indicated the jobless rate would rise to 10.2 percent in the first six months of 2010 and16 percent predicted unemployment would continue to rise in the second half of the year.

U.S. unemployment reached 9.5 percent in June.

In general, economists expect the recovery to be slow.

"I think (the recovery) is going to be anemic," Allen Sinai, chief economist at Decision Economics, told the newspaper.

"Households have to save a lot to fix their balance sheets before they can spend more. I don't think consumers have the wherewithal to buy a lot of cars and a lot of houses," he said.