Fed Vice Chair: U.S. Economy Will Need Years of Recovery

The Hill Reports: Fed vice chair: US economy will take years to fully recover from coronavirus

The Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida, stated on Wednesday that the U.S. economy may need years to recover from the pandemic. Moreover, the country will require further financial support to make it out alive.

The Vice Chair stated that it will likely take another year for the U.S. GDP to recover and even longer for the unemployment rate to drop by down.

“While economic recovery since the spring collapse has been robust, let us not forget that full economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession has a long way to go,” Clarida said. “It will take some time to return to the levels of economic activity and employment that prevailed at the business cycle peak in February, and additional support from monetary — and likely fiscal — policy will be needed.”

Between March and April, more than 22 million Americans were hit by the pandemic, forcing them out of work. This wiped out nearly a decade of employment gains.

[Clarida] cited the recovery of nearly half the jobs lost to the pandemic between May and September of this year, a decline in the unemployment rate from 14.7 percent in April to 7.9 percent last month and a surprising rebound in consumer spending.