DENVER — Regardless of which party wins the White House and control of Congress, 8% unemployment may be something we'll have to live with, CUNA Mutual CEO Jeff Post told his general session audience last week during the 2012 NASCUS Summit here.

Post said thanks to outsourcing overseas and technology that has replaced human labor, many jobs aren't coming back. Construction and real estate jobs won't return for awhile, cuts to government budgets will result in additional job losses, and if the federal government doesn't soon resolve the so-called fiscal cliff, companies will pull in their horns and shy away from investing "until they know the rules of the game going forward," Post said.

The good news is there hasn't been a second unemployment shock as many had feared, and government stimulus programs have helped, he said. However, the country must consider if high unemployment isn't just a temporary issue but systemic.