Obama welcomes jobs report showing fewer payroll cuts; calls it signal of ‘better days’ ahead

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Obama: Jobs report a sign ‘better days are ahead’

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — President Barack Obama says a drop in the nation’s double-digit unemployment rate is some “modestly encouraging news” about the economy, but that a struggle remains.

New statistics out Friday showed a relatively moderate shedding of 11,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate dipped from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent last month. Obama called that “good news, just in time for the season of hope.” He said it’s the best jobs report the country has had since 2007.

Still, Obama said that “good trends don’t pay the rent” and he said his administration is working on a series of steps to encourage new hiring and investment.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The administration welcomed figures showing a significant slowing of job losses as President Barack Obama visited a Pennsylvania metal works plant Friday and visited with hard-hat workers.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said new statistics showing a relatively moderate shedding of 11,000 jobs last month indicate the economy is “getting the right trend going in hiring.” But he also said that even that loss was unacceptable, telling reporters the nation must “get back to an economy that is not just growing, but is creating jobs.”

The Labor Department reported earlier Friday that the November job loss was the smallest monthly number since the recession began. At the same time, the civilian unemployment rate dipped from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent last month.

White House economics adviser Christina Romer called it a sign that stabilization of financial markets may be improving the labor market.

Obama hosted a jobs forum at the White House Thursday, seeking advice from a group of academics, business, labor and financial experts. His options for spurring job growth may be limited by out-of-control budget deficits. But Obama also is warming to moves by his congressional allies for a jobs-boosting bill.

With unemployment expected to remain high for months, Obama took his defense of the economy on the road. Before a town hall meeting, he toured the Allentown Metal Works, chatting with workers and inspecting their work. The plant employs about 70 people, and the White House says it’s expanding.

The White House jobs conference blended cheerleading for an economic revival with group brainstorming on how to make it happen, as Obama exhorted more than 100 CEOs, academics, small business, union leaders and local officials to focus on new ways to get businesses hiring again.

The president spoke favorably there of an expanded program to help make more U.S. homes energy efficient and mentioned trade measures and new tax incentives as being among ways to stop job losses that are the worst since the 1930s.

“We cannot hang back and hope for the best,” Obama said. “What I’m interested in is taking action right now.”

But Obama, in a nod to growing anxiety about federal deficits, also said it is primarily up to the private sector to create large numbers of new jobs rather than the government embarking on a costly jobs creation program.

He said that while he’s “open to every demonstrably good idea … we also though have to face the fact that our resources are limited.”

The appetite for debt-financed jobs legislation is far higher on Capitol Hill, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Congress will extend several items in February’s $787 billion economic stimulus measure. Pelosi wants more money for roads and bridges and to save the jobs of firefighters, teachers and other public employees. She also promised help for small businesses reeling from a credit crunch.

After talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other administration officials, congressional Democrats are eying up to $70 billion in unused borrowing authority from last year’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout for jobs-related legislation, two House Democratic aides said. The aides required anonymity to describe the private talks.

Democrats say the Troubled Assets Relief Program money would “pay for” any jobs bill. But the move is largely cosmetic since tapping the bailout money would require issuing billions of dollars in new federal debt. The White House had hoped to lower deficit projections by not using the full $700 billion in TARP authority approved during last year’s economic meltdown.

One new idea Democrats and the White House are looking at is a program to give people cash incentives to retrofit their homes with energy-saving materials along the lines of the Cash for Clunkers program that boosted car sales this summer.

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor reported from Washington.