Fed officials see choppy recovery for U.S. economy

By Pedro da Costa and Kristina Cooke

AUSTIN/ATLANTA (Reuters) - High unemployment and reluctant consumers will likely make an incipient U.S. economic recovery weak and erratic, top Federal Reserve officials said in a string of speeches across the country on Tuesday.

That means interest rates, currently at historic lows close to zero, should remain near that floor for the foreseeable future, the policymakers said.

"The strength and durability of the expansion is in question," said Janet Yellen president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, in Phoenix, Arizona. "High unemployment, weak job growth and paltry wage increases are a recipe for sluggish consumer spending growth and a tepid recovery."

Echoing her remarks, Richard Fisher, head of the Dallas Fed, flagged commercial real estate and a heavy reliance on government stimulus as other key risks.

"The more demand you steal from the future, the less future demand there is for you to steal," Fisher told the Austin Headliners' Club, a group of Texas business executives, lobbyists and politicians.

The U.S. economy grew 3.5 percent in the third quarter, unofficially emerging from its worst recession in generations. But the jobs picture remains dismal, with the unemployment rate surging to 10.2 percent in October, its highest level since 1983. A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed economists expect it to hit 10.5 percent in mid-2010 before subsiding. <ECI/LT>

LOW RATE RISK

Fisher said he was mindful of the possibility that the central bank's pledge to keep rates at rock bottom for an "extended period" could fuel unwanted speculative activity in financial markets.