Romer leaving White House post

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Christina Romer said in Washington Thursday she will resign next month as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Romer will leave the White House post Sept. 3 and return to her position as economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the White House said in a news release.

Romer is the second key Obama economic official to leave in recent weeks. Peter Orszag previously announced his resignation as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

President Barack Obama said Romer wanted to return to California, where her son is scheduled to begin high school this fall.

"Christy Romer has provided extraordinary service to me and our country during a time of economic crisis and recovery," Obama said. "The challenges we faced demanded more of Christy than any of her predecessors, and I greatly valued and appreciated her skill, commitment and wise counsel."

Romer called her White House experience the "honor of a lifetime."

"While I look forward to returning to research and teaching, the opportunity to help shape economic policy these past 20 months, and to work with the other members of the economic team and my colleagues on the CEA, is one I will always cherish," she said in the statement issued by the White House.