Many economists predict US GDP will expand less than 2% over the next 10 years

A dismal job market, a crippled real estate sector and hobbled banks will keep a lid on US economic growth over the next 10 years, according to economists.

Reporting from the American Economic Association Reuters news agency said the chances for a robust and sustained economic expansion are slim.

Many of the economists predicted that gross domestic product would expand less that 2% over the next 10 years.

The downturn has wreaked US consumer confidence, which is a key driver of global growth.

"It's very hard to see what will replace it," said Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and professor of economics at Columbia University in the Reuters story. "It's going to take a number of years."