Goolsbee leaving economic council

WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- President's Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee is leaving to return to teaching at the University of Chicago, the White House said Monday.

Goolsbee leaves a key administration post he took just last September and at a time when the U.S. economy is showing signs of slowing down.

Goolsbee will resume his position as the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the university's Graduate School of Business in time for the upcoming school year, the White House said.

"Since I first ran for the U.S. Senate, Austan has been a close friend and one of my most trusted advisers," President Barack Obama said in a release. "Over the past several years, he has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and although there is still much work ahead, his insights and counsel have helped lead us toward an economy that is growing and creating millions of jobs. He is one of America's great economic thinkers."

Goolsbee, who took over as the council chairman after Christina Romer quit to return to academia, called his job in the Obama administration "a rare privilege, particularly at such a historic time" and praised the president.

"While I am looking forward to returning home to Chicago, I will always be proud of the years I have spent working for this president," he said. "I believe that his judgment, his courage in confronting the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes and his commitment to the American people have made a tremendous difference for the nation."