"We have a long way to go," National Economic Council Director Larry Summers told a conference on social security at the National Press Club after citing some improvement in the form of a narrowing in credit spreads and other signs of improved financial activity.

"The problems were not created in a week or a month or a year and they will not be resolved in a week or a month or a year," he said.

Summers noted that "almost all forecasters" expect the U.S. economy to resume growing in the second half this year and pointed out that monthly job losses now were running at about half the rate they were earlier.

"What one sees is a substantial return to normality," Summers said. "It is reasonable to say we are in a very different place from where we were six months ago."

The free fall that the economy was enduring a year ago has been contained, he said, adding: "We are beginning to lay the foundation for future growth."

(Reporting by Emily Kaiser and Glenn Somerville; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)