Geithner says unemployment is 'terribly high'
Geithner says Obama is hugely concerned about jobless rate
However, Geithner was encouraged by figures showing that American jobless claims fell last week and told NBC that business growth has been improving.
"A huge amount of damage was done to businesses and families across the country ... and it's going to take us a long time to heal that damage," he explained.
More than 11 million people in the US are now drawing unemployment insurance benefits and the jobless rate of 9.7% understates the problem as many people who give up looking for work are no longer in the official count of the unemployed.
The initial claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as the recovering economy moves closer to generating more jobs. The labour department said new jobless benefit claims dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 439,000.
Geithner also spoke about the financial reforms embarked upon by Obama and admitted that it was "deeply unfair" that some of the financial institutions that received taxpayer bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions of ordinary Americans.
He acknowledged public outrage over that and said people watched with disdain as Washington protected high-risk banks, even as the unemployment rate was soaring. But Geithner also argued that Obama had no choice when confronted with a financial crisis.
"As the president has said, we had to do some very unpopular things," he added.
"What happened in our country should never happen again. People were paid for taking enormous risks. It was a crazy way to run a financial system."
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