Unemployment, Job Creation | featured news

"[B]usinesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months," the president said, "including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. That’s a step in the right direction. That’s a step in the right direction. But we can’t be satisfied, because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back where we were back in 2007, and I want to get back to a time when middle-class families and those working to get to the middle class have some basic security. That’s our goal.”

Bernanke, who has called the level of long-term unemployment in the United States a national crisis, made clear that policymakers were still preoccupied with lowering the 9 percent jobless rate, but he warned it will take time to bring it to more-normal levels.

Job creation came to a halt in August, according to new government data that show an economic recovery that appears to be sputtering out. The Labor Department on Friday reported zero net job creation in August, far worse than the 68,000 net jobs analysts had expected to be added. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1 percent. The July job growth number was revised downward, as well, to only 85,000 jobs added that month — not the 117,000 estimated.

Private businesses added a stronger number of jobs in June than expected, according to ADP, while new claims for jobless benefits fell last week.

In the wake of a new jobs report showing increased unemployment, President Obama today said the steps his administration has taken to improve the economy are working, but not fast enough. He called on Congress to pass a small business bill and said he would announce next week a broader set of ideas to accelerate job creation.

The gubernatorial candidate criticizes her rival for not offering a plan to boost employment and unveils a 34-page booklet on the issue, which she plans to mail to voters statewide.

The issue of employment dominated the race for governor Thursday as Meg Whitman slashed rival Jerry Brown for failing to offer a plan to create jobs while she unveiled a glossy, 34-page booklet on the subject that she plans to mail to voters across California.

Though the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent, the overall employment picture was greatly improved, with positive revisions to January and February.

President Barack Obama on Thursday faced pressure to help create jobs in African-American communities and deliver an immigration overhaul even as he tried to push healthcare reform across the finish line.

President Barack Obama will lay out policy proposals to combat double-digit unemployment in a speech on Tuesday tackling an economic problem that has become a political drain on his young administration.

President Obama is cautioning job creation could move slowly as the nation recovers from an economic recession. He told CNN's "State of the Union" signs point to recovery, although creation of enough new jobs could be delayed until next year.