White House Projects Slow Economic Gains Ahead
President Barack Obama's new budget depicts a still-fragile economy continuing its slow but steady recovery from the deep 2007-2009 recession. The White House forecast does not foresee U.S. unemployment falling to pre-recessionary levels below 6 percent until after Obama leaves office.
The forecast sees the jobless rate, now 7.7 percent, stabilizing at 5.4 percent by 2018.
One bright spot in the projections: tame levels of inflation at just over 2 percent for all of the next decade.
The White House's economic assumptions and forecasts -- contained in the president's budget blueprint for the fiscal year that begins next Oct. 1 -- are slightly more optimistic in some areas such as short-term economic growth. Otherwise, they generally are in line with recent Congressional Budget Office and private-sector Blue Chip projections.
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