Tough Times

White House View on Jobs Dims

Unemployment likely to stay high through 2012.

This is not the type of news Americans like to hear right before a holiday weekend. The White House budget office said Thursday that unemployment is likely to stay high through 2012—an official acknowledgement of President Obama’s biggest reelection hurdle. Obama will announce his plan to deal with 9 percent unemployment through 2012 next week in a special address before Congress—which White House spokesman Jay Carney said will be a “mix of tax infrastructure and other spending items.” The budget office also said that unemployment will drop to the 5 percent range in 2017. But despite the bleak unemployment numbers, the Office of Management and Budget said Thursday that the U.S. deficit will be lower this year and next, a result of congressional spending cuts. This year’s deficit is projected to be $1.3 trillion, which is down $329 billion, or 20 percent, from the administration’s deficit estimate at the beginning of the year—showing higher-than-expected revenues and lower-than-expected spending.