New Post Created To Advise Biden On Economy

December 5, 2008 2:51 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Vice President-elect Joe Biden on Friday announced the creation of a new post under his office, and the appointment of pro-labor economist Jared Bernstein, to help the incoming administration fix the economy.

Bernstein will serve as chief economist and economic policy adviser to the Vice President. His appointment comes the same day the Labor Department said the economy lost the most jobs in 34 years, and the same week as the the National Bureau of Economic Research officially announced that the U.S. economy has been in recession since December 2007.

"Jared Bernstein is an acclaimed economist, and a proven, passionate advocate for raising the incomes of middle class families," Biden said in a statement. "His expertise and background in a wide range of domestic and international economic policies will be an invaluable asset to the Obama-Biden Administration. It's an honor to have him on my team and I look forward to his advice and counsel."

Bernstein is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit that is in part funded by labor unions and that aims to "broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low and middle-income workers." He was chief economist at the Labor Department under the Clinton administration, and has taught at Columbia University and New York University.

Biden's choice for chief economic adviser deviates from President-elect Barack Obama's centrist economic team, which includes New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary, and former Treasury Sec. Lawrence Summers as director of the National Economic Council.