Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers today that recent data indicates that the "pace of contraction may be slowing'' and the economy could "turn up later this year."
During testimony before the Joint Economic Committee he warned, however, that the recovery will be slow and it will take a while for job creation to increase.
"Even after a recovery gets under way, the rate of growth of real activity is likely to remain below its longer-run potential for a while, implying that the current slack in resource utilization will increase further," he said.
He added that while inflation is likely to remain low, businesses will be cautious about hiring and the unemployment rate could remain high even after there is economic growth again.
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