'We're currently in a very bad stage of the contraction as far as employment is concerned and I would expect to see continued weakness in the first quarter,' he said, replying to an audience question following a speech at the London School of Economics.
Mr Bernanke said that although there was much uncertainty, he was 'hopeful that later in 2009, depending on factors, particularly including financial and credit markets, we should begin to see some stabilisation in the economy,' before noting that 'it takes a while for labour markets to recover.'
'It will take some time before we are back to where we started from,' he said regarding employment levels.
US unemployment jumped to a 16-year high of 7.2 per cent as a deepening recession pushed employers to shed a massive 524,000 jobs in December, capping the worst annual performance since 1945. -- AFP