Bernanke hopes higher U.S. unemployment temporary

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. central bank expects higher unemployment rates to last only for a couple of years.

"We hope that any unemployment generated by the current episode is transitory and we project that it will come back down over the next couple of years," Bernanke told the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee about the current downturn's effects on employment.

In January, the United States lost 17,000 jobs according to a Labor Department report, and the current U.S. unemployment rate is 4.9 percent. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by James Dalgleish)