WASHINGTON: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the economic recovery "could be a little choppy" and it's going to take a while.

Geithner told NBC's "Meet the Press" that bringing back jobs and the confidence of investors will be the real test of recovery. He declined to say whether the recession is over, saying economists will figure that out years from now.

Recent encouraging news in the economy "shows that when you act with force you can stabilize a crisis like this," he said in the interview that will air Sunday.

"But this is going to be a different recovery than in the past because Americans are going to have to save more. A lot of damage was caused by this crisis. It's going to take some time for us to grow out of this.

"It could be a little choppy. It could be uneven. And it's going to take awhile."

He noted, however, that he's seeing encouraging signs.

An excerpt of the interview was released Saturday night.