Geithner: Job growth unlikely until spring

The U.S. is unlikely to see job growth in December and probably won't experience any until spring, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Wednesday.

Despite the economy only having shed 11,000 jobs in November, the lowest number of jobs shed per month during the recession, Geithner said job losses are likely to persist.

"I don't think so," Geithner said during an appearance on ABC when asked if people could expect to see jobs created in December.

"I think it's likely -- most economists would say that, by the spring, we'll have positive job growth," Geithner added, conceding that it's "possible" that the U.S. could add jobs before then.

Continued job losses have led to some political pressure on Democrats going into 2010's midterm elections. The Obama administration, in tandem with its allies in Congress, have explored using leftover funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to spend on a second targeted, jobs-focused stimulus initiative.

Geithner acknowledged the tough economic situation facing Americans, especially as the U.S. revised downward on Tuesday its third quarter economic growth numbers, showing a 2.2. percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) between July and September.

"It's very hard still out there; t's still a very tough economy," Geithner said. "The crisis just caused a huge amount of damage to people's basic confidence in their economic future.  You see that in business confidence, consumer confidence, too."

"But the policies that the president put in place, they are doing what they had to do, what they're supposed to do, and we have an economy that's growing again at a rate faster than we would have thought, earlier than we would have thought," the secretary added. "That has to come before you start to see job growth coming."

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