Joblessness is the blemish on Ben S. Bernanke's report card.

Since the recession ended in June 2009, the Federal Reservechairman has achieved inflation near his target of 2 percent,bolstered capital across the banking system and helped underpinconfidence in the U.S. economy that's contributed to record-lowborrowing costs for the nation. Meanwhile, the unemployment ratehas stalled above 8 percent for 41 consecutive months.

The failure to bring joblessness closer to Fed officials'longer-run goal of 5.2 percent to 6 percent has prompted Bernankeand his lieutenants to emphasize the need for economic growth overprice stability, said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells FargoSecurities LLC. Bernanke added to his record monetary stimulus lastmonth and said more action will be needed without “sustainedimprovement” in the jobs outlook.

“The employment number just isn't improving; it's the thingthat's out of whack,” Silvia said in a telephone interview from hisCharlotte, North Carolina, office. “Yes, you've got a dual mandate,but like everything else in life, sometimes you've got to focus onone more than the other.”

Bernanke, who is scheduled to deliver his semi-annualmonetary-policy report to Congress today and tomorrow, said June 20that policy makers are focusing “primarily” on the outlook for jobsin deciding whether to ease further. The Federal Open MarketCommittee last month prolonged its maturity-extension program,known as Operation Twist, through the end of the year by $267billion.

The jobless rate climbed to 8.2 percent in May and held therelast month after declining to 8.1 percent in April from a peak of10 percent in October 2009, according to Labor Department data. Fedofficials in June raised their projections for the rate, predicting8 percent to 8.2 percent at year-end compared with their Aprilestimate of 7.8 percent to 8 percent. For 2013, they see 7.5percent to 8 percent, up from 7.3 percent to 7.7 percent.

“When people look back at the Bernanke years, I doubt they'll becritical of him if the unemployment rate is falling but just not asfast as people would like, because there's a recognition that thiswas a deep recession,” said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist in NewYork at Barclays Plc. “If the unemployment rate simply stoppedfalling and did not fall for the rest of his term, that would bemore of a problem for his legacy.”

'Lasting Effect'

Economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff found a “deep andlasting effect” of financial crises on output, employment and assetprices in their 2009 book “This Time Is Different: Eight Centuriesof Financial Folly.” The authors traced similarities among suchcrises in 66 countries dating back to medieval times, includingsovereign defaults, banking panics and inflationary surges.

Given that the 18-month recession followed the same pattern, “itwould be unfair” to blame the Fed for prolonged high joblessness,as the central bank “has been very aggressive and very innovative,”said Dana Saporta, U.S. economist in New York at Credit SuisseGroup AG.

Reinhart and Rogoff didn't return calls seeking comment.

Bernanke, chairman of the Fed since 2006, has proved to bemodern history's most activist U.S. central bank chief in fightingthe worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and trying tojump-start the economy.

He rescued Bear Stearns Cos. and American International GroupInc. in 2008 by taking mortgage assets onto the Fed's balancesheet, bolstered money-market mutual funds and provided emergencyloans to investment banks. The Fed has conducted stress tests since2009, putting the balance sheets of the nation's biggest banksthrough scenarios of economic turmoil.

The Fed chief lowered the target for the federal funds rate tonear zero in December 2008, purchased $2.3 trillion in securitiesduring two rounds of so-called quantitative easing and announced inSeptember the program to swap short-term holdings forlonger-maturity debt in an effort to cut interest ratesfurther.

Bernanke also has used communications as an easing tool sincethe central bank can't reduce its benchmark rate any further. InJanuary, the Fed said it plans to keep borrowing costs near recordlows through at least late 2014.

The unprecedented monetary easing hasn't prevented a slowdown ingrowth: The U.S. expanded at a 1.9 percent pace in the firstquarter, down from 3 percent in the last three months of 2011. Theeconomy grew by 1.8 percent in the second quarter as the deepeningsovereign-debt crisis in Europe weighed on the U.S., according tothe median estimate of 69 economists surveyed July 6 to July 10 byBloomberg News.

Sparking Criticism

Bernanke's actions also have sparked criticism from both ends ofthe spectrum: Republicans including House Speaker John Boehner ofOhio warn the stimulus risks accelerating prices, while Nobel-prizewinning economist Paul Krugman argues Bernanke hasn't done enoughto create jobs and should tolerate higher inflation.

Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,has advocated increasing the central bank's emphasis on bringingdown unemployment by saying policy makers won't boost interestrates until either unemployment falls below 7 percent or inflationrises above 3 percent.

Evans “would be getting more traction right now, because it doesappear the Fed can pursue an easier policy without threatening aninflation problem,” Silvia said.

The personal-consumption-expenditures price index climbed 1.5percent for the 12 months through May and has averaged 1.8 percentsince the recession ended in June 2009.

Bond traders predict prices will continue accelerating at asimilar pace, as the break-even rate for five-year TreasuryInflation Protected Securities was 1.8 percentage points on July16. The rate, a yield difference between the inflation-linked debtand comparable maturity Treasuries, is a measure of the outlook forconsumer prices over the life of the securities.

While the Fed in January joined other central banks includingthe Bank of Mexico and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in adoptingan inflation goal, it differs from many of its counterparts becauseit also must follow a congressional mandate to promote fullemployment, or the maximum amount of jobs created before companiesbid up wages.

The Fed said in a January statement that it would “not beappropriate” to fix a goal for the unemployment rate because theelements that determine maximum employment “change over time andmay not be directly measurable.” Policy makers estimate the rangefor their longer-run goal could be from 4.9 percent to 6.3 percent.The central tendency, excluding the three highest and lowestestimates, is 5.2 percent to 6 percent.

Lacking Skills

Some policy makers within the Fed have argued that monetarystimulus isn't effective at creating jobs, suggesting that peoplewho lost work during the recession don't have the skills to qualifyfor openings being created. Philadelphia Fed President CharlesPlosser said May 1 that “solutions to this problem are not amenableto monetary-policy fixes.”

It does “become a bit harder when the battle is against a moregeneral economic malaise, given the Fed's more limited tools,” saidSaporta, who predicts the Fed will announce a third round of assetpurchases in September. “Each iteration” of stimulus “seems to beless potent.”

If there's “no sign of improvement whatsoever” in job growth inJuly and August, then the Fed probably will “think hard” about QE3in September, Maki said, adding that monthly payroll increases over100,000 probably would negate the need for such stimulus.

The economy added 80,000 jobs in June, missing the 100,000median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey, after arevised 77,000 in May and 68,000 in April, the slowest pace inalmost a year. Bernanke said in April that employment growth of100,000 a month is needed for “stability” in the job market, andpayroll increases of about 150,000 to 200,000 are consistent withthe Fed's forecasts for joblessness.

“The QEs, the Twists, it's all been aimed at the employmentmandate,” Maki said. “What is changing right now is that theheadline inflation figures have dropped and that gives them alittle more leeway not to think there's a significant trade-offbetween their goals at this time.”

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