NEW YORK (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he expects unemployment will be a "big problem" for at least another year.
Speaking during taping of "The Late Show" with David Letterman, Obama called the $787 billion economic stimulus program that Congress enacted earlier this year a "tourniquet" that stopped the economic bleeding. Without that spending, he said another 1.5 million jobs, or more, would have been lost.
But Obama said it's going to take time for the economy to become whole again. As he put it, "Unemployment is going to be a big problem for at least another year." The nation's unemployment rate hit 9.7 percent in August. Most economists expect it to top 10 percent next year.
Obama said he's confident the economy will come back stronger than ever.