Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on ABC that he expects U.S. unemployment to rise above 10 percent from its current level of 9.8 percent and "stay there for a while."

Mr. Greenspan also discussed the economic effects of long-term unemployment, defined as being unemployed for 27 weeks or longer and currently at a historic high with over 5.4 million Americans counted in that group. Workers lose skills when they are out of work for protracted people, and “the economy loses skills.”

Greenspan widened that observation to the economy as a whole, pointing out the importance of human capital to economic health, a "combination of the capital assets of the economy and the people who run it."

Ambiguously upbeat on longer-term prospects for fuller employment, Greenspan opined that companies cut too deep last year and that some positions will be re-instated. The employment picture will improve "at some point," he suggests.

One would certainly hope so.

Editorial points on this story:

1) Greenspan's pointing out the importance of human capital in the overall economy is spot-on, but his assertion that skills fade with unemployment remains unsupported. It may be that skills improve during unemployment as people re-train.
2) If firms eliminated too many jobs at the start of the recession, they are taking their sweet time about rectifying the problem.