Greenspan: Unemployment not declining soon

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. unemployment is unlikely to come down in the near future, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Greenspan said the hiring of thousands of U.S. Census workers is "going to have some positive effect, but it's very difficult to make the case that unemployment is coming down any time soon."

Greenspan said, "I think we're going to stay at approximately the 9 to 10 percent level here for a goodly part of the rest of this year."

The former Fed chief also asserted that a U.S. economic turnaround has begun, but that it is progressing very slowly. He said last week's job report showing unemployment falling below 10 percent "doesn't signal a turnaround, but a turnaround that has already occurred that is not moving aggressively. It is going to be a slow, trudging thing."

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, appearing on the same show, added, "The economy is clearly recovering. And I have great confidence that we have such a dynamic private sector in this country that they're eventually going to begin creating jobs."