WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says people need to be patient about the economic recovery and that training workers for manufacturing jobs will help with the turnaround.
The recession didn’t happen overnight and won’t end that way, either, the president said Saturday in his weekly radio and online address.
“It’s going to take time,” Obama said.
Recent polling found broad disapproval with Obama’s handling of the economy as the 2012 presidential election takes shape. It reached 59 percent in a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Job growth slowed sharply in May and unemployment inched up to 9.1 percent. Economic indicators also showed that manufacturers cut 5,000 jobs last month. Those were the first job losses in that sector in seven months.
No president since World War II has won a second term with a jobless rate above 7.2 percent, and Obama’s options for achieving faster economic growth before the November 2012 election appear limited.
Obama scheduled a visit to Durham, North Carolina, on Monday for a session with his jobs council on how Washington can encourage private-sector hiring. Council members and administration officials also planned to hear from businesses in the region.
Last Wednesday, Obama announced an effort by the private sector, colleges and the National Association of Manufacturers to help half a million community college students become trained and certified for manufacturing jobs. They would get a credential guaranteeing that they are skilled.
“If you’re a company that’s hiring, you’ll know that anyone who has this degree has the skills you’re looking for,” the president said Saturday. “If you’re a student considering community college, you’ll know that your diploma will give you a leg up in the job market.”
Obama said other steps, such as providing students with a quality education and investing in new jobs in the clean energy sector, will aid economic growth.
In the weekly Republican message, also on jobs, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois recalled the administration’s promise that unemployment would go no higher than 8 percent after Obama pumped billions of dollars into the economy soon after taking office.
Kinzinger said the “road to refueling our economy and creating jobs” includes tackling government debt, simplifying tax laws, limiting regulations, passing free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and boosting domestic energy production.
“These are some of the steps we need to take to get government out of the way and let our economy grow and get back to producing jobs,” he said.
Associated Press
