Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke pointed repeatedly to the possibility of further stimulus action and vigorously defended the benefits of the central bank's past use of unconventional policies to bolster the economy today.

Bernanke also flagged deep worries about the pace of the economic recovery, calling it "far from satisfactory" and cited concerns about the jobs market's weak growth in his speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo.