Surge in US job losses 'sobering' : Obama

July 03, 2009 11:39:57 AM

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US President Barack Obama said Thursday the latest surge in job losses was "sobering," after new government figures pushed the unemployment rate to a new 26-year high of 9.5 percent.

Obama described Thursday as "a day of sobering news," noting job figures released earlier showing "we lost 467,000 jobs last month."

He said there were continuing signs that the "recession is slowing" but added that assessment would offer little comfort to Americans whose jobs had already disappeared.

"As I've said from the moment I walked into the door of this White House, it took years for us to get into this mess and will take more us than a few months to turn this around."

Obama made his comments after meeting a group of CEOs of what he described as the "most innovative energy companies in America" to talk about a sector he says is vital to hauling the country out of its deepest recession in decades.

"I'm absolutely confident that we can, at this period of difficulty, prove, once again, what this nation can achieve when challenged," Obama said.

"I'm confident that we're not only going to recover from this recession in the short term, but we're going to prosper in the long term."

Future growth, Obama argued, had to be built on new economic foundations -- which include alternative energy -- and he highlighted historic climate change legislation passed last week by the House of Representatives.

The bill, which faces a tough ride in the Senate, includes incentives for the development of alternative energy, which Obama has made a keynote policy goal of his administration.

"Now it's up to the Senate to continue the work that was begun in the House to forge this more prosperous future.

"We're going to need to set aside the posturing and the politics, and when we put aside the old ideological debates, then our choice is clear."

Labor Department figures showed that US job losses surged to 467,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate to a new 26-year high of 9.5 percent, dampening hopes for an early economic recovery.

The report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, reversed the improvement seen last month when job losses fell to a revised 322,000.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the world's biggest economy has lost 6.5 million jobs and the jobless rate has risen 4.6 percentage points.

Obama said last month that unemployment may rise above 10 percent before the economy stabilizes.