LOC17:53
14:53 GMT
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (KUNA) -- Reacting to the news on Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.6 percent last month even though the private sector added 159,000 jobs in October, President Barack Obama said he was "open to any idea" to get the U.S. economy growing faster.
"Based on today's jobs report, we have now seen private-sector job growth for 10 straight months," Obama said in remarks from the White House. "That means that since January, the private sector has added 1.1 million jobs." However, "that is not good enough," he added.
"We are in the middle of a tough fight to get our economy growing faster so that businesses across our country can open and expand, so that people can find good jobs, and so that we can repair the terrible damage that was done by the worst recession in our lifetimes," he said.
U.S. businesses added more than a hundred thousand jobs in August and September, "so we have now seen four months of private-sector job growth above a hundred thousand, which is the first time we have seen this kind of increase in over four years," the President noted. But the United States needs to accelerate economic growth "so that we are producing jobs at a faster pace, because the fact is an encouraging jobs report does not make a difference if you are still one of the millions of people who are looking for work, and I will not be satisfied until everybody who is looking for a job can find one," he said.
Obama said actions to take could include tax breaks for small businesses, such as "deferring taxes on new equipment so that they have got an incentive to expand and hire, as well as tax cuts to make it cheaper for entrepreneurs to start companies." This includes building new infrastructure, from high-speed trains to high-speed Internet, so that the U.S. economy can run faster and smarter, he said.
"It includes promoting research and innovation, and creating incentives in growth sectors like the clean-energy economy, and it certainly includes keeping tax rates low for middle-class families, and extending unemployment benefits to help those hardest hit by the downturn, while generating more demand in the economy," he added.
Another key to creating jobs is to open markets to American goods made by American workers, the President said.
"Our prosperity depends not just on consuming things, but also on being the maker of things," he said. "In fact, for every 1 billion dollars we increase in exports, thousands of jobs are supported here at home, and that is why I have set a goal of doubling America's exports over the next five years." Obama, who will depart on Friday for India, said he plans while there to discuss opening up additional markets in places such as India so that American businesses can sell more products abroad in order to create more jobs at home. The most important competition Americans face is the competition with countries around the world to lead the global economy, "and our success or failure in this race will depend on whether we can come together as a nation," he said. "Our future depends on putting politics aside to solve problems, to worry about the next generation instead of the next election." "We cannot spend the next two years mired in gridlock," he added. "Other countries, like China, are not standing still, so we cannot stand still either. We have got to move forward." The President said he was "looking very much forward to helping to pry some markets open, help American businesses and put people back to work here at home during the course of this trip." (end) rm.ajs KUNA 051753 Nov 10NNNN