In June the U.S. economy added a mere 18,000 net new jobs and the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
The private sector added just 57,000 jobs last month, the fewest in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs in June. From November 2010 to June 2011, federal, state and local governments cut a combined 238,000 positions.
Reacting to the feeble jobs numbers, President Barack Obama said, it “confirms what most Americans already know: we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do…”
“The economic challenges that we face weren’t created overnight, and they’re not going to be solved overnight.”
“They (American people) feel that leaders on Wall Street and in Washington–and believe me, no party is exempt–have let them down.”
Obama said that there are a few things that can be done right now to get people back to work. He called for investment in infrastructure–roads, bridges, railways–which could put over 1 million construction workers back to work and called on Congress to pass patent reform and trade agreements which are pending.
Obama said that the inability to reach a debt ceiling deal was contributing to uncertainty in the economy and urged that this be done.
“The sooner we get this done, the sooner that the markets know that the debt limit ceiling will have been raised…” Obama said.
Asked how was his meeting with Mrs. Pelosi, Obama replied “It was good.”
