Obama: Economy Improving, but Not Fast Enough

President Obama this morning acknowledged the disappointing news released today that the economy has shed jobs, but he highlighted the fact that the private sector is still slowly adding jobs.

"Make no mistake, we are headed in the right direction," Mr. Obama said. He added, however, "We're not headed there fast enough for a lot of Americans. And we're not headed there fast enough for me either."

The Labor Department announced this morning that U.S. employers cut 125,000 jobs last month, in large part because the 225,000 temporary U.S. Census jobs came to an end. Private businesses, however, added 83,000 new jobs -- more than in May, but fewer than the number of private sector jobs created in March or April.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent, but that is attributed to people giving up looking for jobs.

Mr. Obama today emphasized that June was the sixth straight month of job growth in the private sector, amounting to nearly 600,000 private economy jobs created this year.

He said, however, that the recession "dug us a hole about 8 million jobs deep, and we continue to fight headwinds in volatile markets."

Vice President Joe Biden said recently all the jobs lost in the recession cannot be recovered.

Mr. Obama assured those out of work that he and his administration are "continuing a relentless effort across multiple fronts" to keep up job creation.

The president announced today 66 new federal projects to bring broadband Internet service to communities that have lacked such service. He said the projects are expected to create 5,000 construction and installation jobs in the near term and should create "immeasurable" gains for the impacted communities in the future.

"We're investing in our people and investing in our future," Mr. Obama said, and making sure the "markets of tomorrow take root right here."