Just when you think that jobs in America were beginning to rebound, we get news from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, that the unemployment rate could very well rise before eventually falling once more.

Geithner was on “Good Morning America” this morning discussing various issues from the general us economy, to the Bush tax cuts, and the unemployment rate.  When asked about unemployment, he stated the following:  “It’s possible you’re going to have a couple months where it goes up.  People start to come back into the labor force, and that can cause the measured unemployment rate to go up temporarily.”

Remember that the Unemployment rate is calculated by those seeking work, who can not find it.  As jobs become more abundant, those who may not have been seeking work in the past because they were too pessimistic, may reenter the job market once things look like they are improving.  This, therefore can make the unemployment rate rise.

Geithner also explained that the economy is not rebounding as fast as Obama and himself would have hoped. However, they do see a gradual rebound that will be slow in the coming months ahead.  Clearly the economy has sputtered in the last couple months, but all economic recoveries do not occur in a straight upward direction.  There will always be peaks and troughs throughout the recovery.  Unemployment is a lagging indicator, therefore as the economy improves, the unemployment rate can lag behind as much as 6 months.