WASHINGTON—U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that more U.S. jobs will be lost in coming weeks and months but stressed the economy has recovered a lot of ground since he took office in January.
Speaking at a White House meeting of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Obama said the current pace of job losses was "distressing" and the labor market would not improve quickly.
"We anticipate that we are going to continue to see some job losses in the weeks and months to come," Obama said.
The advisory board's meeting was shown on a White House website in a departure from normal practice.
Obama said the economy was beginning to stabilize after the deep slump that it entered amid a U.S. and global financial crisis but said it still had a long way to go and that policymakers need to find new models for future growth.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but we will not rest until we are succeeding, until we are generating the jobs that this economy needs," the President said before the official board meeting started.
He said past U.S. growth had been "debt-driven" and that was no longer feasible. With the United States running record budget deficits as it spends furiously to try to stimulate the economy, Obama said it is going to be vital to find innovative new ways to finance growth.
The U.S. economy posted solid growth in the third quarter after a year of steady decline, with gross domestic product rising at a 3.5 percent annual rate.
In addition on Monday, U.S. manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 3-1/2 years in October and pending home sales surged in September—all signs of vitality returning to a battered economy.
Obama urged policymakers to consider new ways to spur growth, not simply changes in tax policy, and said that he was confident that job growth will return once the economy is back on a solid growth track.
