WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Rising unemployment and flat prices will keep U.S. growth weak in 2009 before turning around in 2010, the Bush administration's top economists said Friday.
The Council of Economic Advisers in its annual Economic Report of the President cut growth forecasts, predicting the U.S. economy would grow by only 0.6 percent in 2009 before experiencing a 5 percent growth next year, the Financial Times reported.
The economists said unemployment will be 7.7 percent in 2009 and inflation would hold at 1.7 percent during the next two years.
Before releasing the findings, CEA Chairman Edward Lazear said on CNBC the report demonstrates the resilience of the U.S. economy.
"But the ability to withstand shocks has a limit," Lazear said. "And unfortunately the culmination of shocks that we saw occurring in the last few quarters was just too much, and it really put us into a recession. And that's just an unfortunate situation. "
However, economic advisers expect a significant turnaround, Lazear said. "We expect to see growth in the second half of 2009 and very strong growth in 2010."
