Unemployment in the US is unlikely to decline substantially in the near future, according to a former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Alan Greenspan has claimed that the national jobless rate is likely to remain between nine and ten per cent for the remainder of 2010, as the economic turnaround is occurring very slowly.

Speaking to NBC's Meet the Press, the former Fed chief did however explain that the government's plans to hire thousands of public sector workers in the coming months will have "some positive effect".

The Labor Department revealed on Friday that unemployment in the US economy declined by 0.3 per cent to 9.7 per cent of the working population in January.

He said: "[The jobs report] doesn't signal a turnaround, but a turnaround that has already occurred that is not moving aggressively. It is going to be a slow, trudging thing."

Earlier this month, vice president Joe Biden suggested that the Recovery Act created close to 600,000 jobs in the first three months of 2009 and will save another two million jobs this year.