US Senate confirms Yellen as Federal Reserve chair

Janet Yellen as the new leader of the Federal Reserve, marking the first time a woman has headed the world's most powerful central bank.

President Barack Obama's nominee earned bipartisan support in the bitterly divided chamber, but the 56-26 vote was still among the closest in the 100-year history of the institution.

Several senators who supported Yellen, currently Fed vice-chair, arrived too late for the vote.

Yellen, 67, will replace current Chairman Ben Bernanke, who steps down on January 31 after eight years in the job, during which the pair dealt with the country's worst economic crisis since the Great Depre

ssion.

Bernanke's successor's main task will be ensuring the US economy does not slip backwards at a time when other countries are beset by weakness.

Especially crucial will be further pushing down the American jobless rate, which fell to 7.0 percent in November, still significantly higher than Bernanke, Yellen and other Fed policymakers have deemed satisfactory.

Obama cheered the Senate approval, saying Yellen would serve the central bank and the country well.

"The American people will have a fierce champion who understands that the ultimate goal of economic and financial policymaking is to improve the lives, jobs and standard of living of American workers and their families," he said in a statement.

"As one of our nation’s most respected economists and a leading voice at the Fed for more than a decade -- and vice chair for the past three years -- Janet helped pull our economy out of recession and put us on the path of steady growth."

Yellen has built a strong reputation as an academic economist, and as a veteran policymaker at the Fed she is not expected to veer far from the policies set by Bernanke.