By DPA,
Washington: The White House Thursday forecast that the US unemployment rate will hover around 10 per cent throughout 2010 as economic growth will not be robust enough to plug the massive jobless gap.
In an annual economic report submitted to Congress, the White House Council of Economic Advisers predicted that 94,000 jobs would be added per month on average during 2010. But it warned that the jobless rate might even rise in coming months as many discouraged workers try and re-enter the labour market.
President Barack Obama, whose popularity stumbled over the past year amid the weak economy, promised to make job creation his “number one focus” in 2010 and is pushing lawmakers to adopt a stimulus package that could total about $100 billion.
The White House forecast that the US economy will grow by 3 percent in 2010 and 4.3 percent the following year. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surged at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to initial government estimates.
The unemployment rate is forecast to slide to 9.2 percent over 2011 and 8.2 percent in 2012, the White House said. The jobless rate stood at 9.7 percent in January.