Obama sees jobless rate rising for several months

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he expects U.S. unemployment figures to continue rising for several months into the future.

"We will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months," he told reporters at the White House after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

"We have seen some stabilization in the financial markets, and that's good, because that means that companies can borrow and banks are starting to lend again," he continued.

"What we have also seen is that historically even after you start moving into a recovery, positive growth, hiring typically lags for some time after that."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Editing by Sandra Maler)