The U.S. economy should grow around 3 percent to 4 percent this year, a healthier clip than 2010, but not enough to bring down unemployment as much as policymakers would like, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

We see the economy strengthening. It has looked better in the last few months. We think a 3 to 4 percent-type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable, Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Now that's not going to reduce unemployment at the pace we'd like it to, but certainly it would be good to see the economy growing and that means more sales, more business, he added.

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Ben Bernanke Federal reserve