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Treasury's Yellen calls 4% unemployment rate 'healthy'

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While U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that she wasn't certain what an acceptable unemployment rate would be for the current economy, she said the U.S. Treasury has considered a 4% jobless rate as indicative of a healthy labor market.

As Reutersreported, Yellen was asked at the New York Times Dealbook summit to an acceptable unemployment rate to which she replied, "I'm not sure what the right number is, but certainly, historically, we would have considered numbers with unemployment in the force to be a very healthy labor market."

October yielded an unemployment rate of 3.7%, which was near a 50-year low, according to Labor Department data.