White House Adviser Goolsbee to Step Down

White House chief economist Austan Goolsbee said Monday he would step down from his post and return to teaching later this year, in a setback for President Barack Obama as he tries to lift the economy.

The White House said Goolsbee, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, would depart in time to begin the upcoming academic year at the University Of Chicago where is a professor of economics in the graduate school of business.

"He has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and although there is still much work ahead, his insights and counsel have helped lead us toward an economy that is growing and creating millions of jobs," Obama said in a statement.

The departure of Obama's trusted economic adviser comes amid mounting evidence that the U.S. economy has hit a soft-spot. Recent disappointing data has called into the question the durability of the recovery.