Unemployment imposes ‘heavy costs’ on economy: Bernanke

DETROIT: Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke said he’s concerned about the costs US joblessness is imposing on the economy and that the central bank is telling field examiners to encourage lending to creditworthy businesses.

“One particularly difficult issue is the continued high rate of unemployment,” Bernanke said Thursday at a forum at the Chicago Fed’s Detroit office, calling joblessness among the ‘important concerns’ for the recovery. “High unemployment imposes heavy costs on workers and their families, as well as on our society as a whole.”

The central bank chief, visiting a state whose jobless rate of 14% is the highest in the country, has kept the main interest rate close to zero since December 2008 to stoke job growth after the worst recession since the 1930s. Fed policy makers in April reiterated their concern that ‘tight credit’ is restraining consumer spending.

“Our collective challenge is to help ensure that creditworthy borrowers have access to credit so that, should they choose, they can expand their businesses or increase payrolls, helping our economy to recover,” Bernanke said in prepared remarks before participating in panel discussions on the credit needs of small and mid-sized businesses.