Janet Yellen to tell Senate committee economy still needs stimulus

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Janet Yellen, President Obama's choice to head the Federal Reserve, plans to tell a U.S. Senate committee Thursday the economy has made "good progress."

Yellen released a copy of her prepared remarks for her confirmation hearing before the Senate banking committee, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"We have made good progress, but we have farther to go to regain the ground lost in the crisis and the recession," Yellen said.

Yellen has been vice chair of the Federal Reserve since 2010. She was president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank for six years and taught at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley for many years.

In the statement, Yellen said unemployment at 7.3 percent is still too high, although it has dropped from a high of more than 10 percent in 2009. She also said inflation is low -- below the Fed's 2 percent benchmark.

She said the Fed needs to continue to buy bonds to stimulate the economy.