In a US television interview last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates even before employment returns to typical pre-recession levels.
“The unemployment rate is still going to be high for a while”,” said Bernanke, describing the current recovery as “moderate paced”. While not predicting when rates could increase, Bernanke noted that job creation tends to lag recovery, making it likely that rates will move upwards even if unemployment remains high.
Source: Bloomberg