WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve expects unemployment to fall a bit further over the next two years than it thought in September and expects inflation to remain below the Fed's target level.
The Fed predicts the unemployment rate will dip as low as 6.3 percent next year and 5.8 percent in 2015. Both are one-tenth of a percentage point lower than it forecast in September. Unemployment has fallen faster this year than policymakers had predicted. It's now 7 percent.
The Fed estimates that economic growth will be between 2.8 percent and 3.2 percent next year, roughly what it predicted in September. Growth for 2013 will likely be about 2 percent.
Fed policymakers have said they'll keep the short-term rate they control near zero at least until unemployment falls below 6.5 percent.