Obama Announces Jobs Summit for December

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Economy

(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Calling the nation's high jobless rates "a challenge my administration is absolutely determined to meet," President Obama announced Thursday he will hold a jobs summit at the White House in December.

"We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do," Mr. Obama said. "But we have an obligation to consider every additional responsible step that we can to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country."

The president announced the summit, to be called the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, moments before departing for a trip to Asia. Mr. Obama said he will work on a global economic strategy while abroad and will continue to make the nation's economic recovery the focus of his administration.

The U.S. unemployment rate for October surpassed 10 percent, hitting the double digits for the first time since 1983. Claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but economists still predict a "jobless recovery" from the recession.

Acknowledging the hardship Americans are undergoing, the president said "even though we've slowed the loss of jobs... the economic growth that we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need."

To address that, Mr. Obama said, the December forum will bring together CEOs, small business owners, economists, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to discuss job creation.

"It's important we don't make any ill-considered decisions... particularly at a time when our resources are so limited," he said. "But it's just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we've already taken to put America back to work."

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by DavidEHPerry December 2, 2009 1:48 PM EST: The Obama Jobs Summit gets it exactly wrong.

Instead of hoping for more jobs to be created, people can find work faster by looking more creatively for existing jobs, up to 90% of which are not advertised.

Example: Three people in the Detroit area -- America's worst job market -- did just that. And all 3 got jobs in November, after 7 weeks of looking creatively, far faster than the national average of 26.9 weeks. See: http://***********/ylpkhjl

For details, contact David Perry at dperry@perrymartel.com; Reply to this comment


by retm-w November 12, 2009 8:36 PM EST: Maybe if he and the dem lawmakers were more pro business, there would be more jobs.; Reply to this comment

by FauxNews November 12, 2009 10:33 AM EST

I'm glad Obama is so worried about unemployment that he is waiting until next month to hold a job summit. By the way, have fun on your trip to Asia Mr. President.

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by endurorob_5 November 12, 2009 10:42 AM EST: Well you know, things likes jobs and support for our troops in Afghanistan take time and deliberation. On the other hand things like a spending bill that threw away hundreds of billions of dollars is soemthing that needs to be done overnight.