WASHINGTON (AP) — New White House budget projections indicate a 9 percent unemployment rate next year as President Barack Obama tries to win a second term.
The figures from the White House budget office predict that the economy will grow by just 1.7 percent this year, a full percentage point less than the administration predicted at the beginning of 2011. The economy grew by just 0.7 percent in the first half of the year, the slowest pace since the recession ended two years ago.
The White House report also sees the budget deficit topping $1.3 trillion. That would be slightly higher than last year but more than $300 billion less than the record deficit that it predicted in February.
