(Newser)
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President Obama didn't try to put a pretty face on today's bleak unemployment figures: The numbers confirm "what most Americans already know," he said: "We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do." He urged Congress to pass a slew of pending initiatives to juice the economy and create jobs, including approving road projects to employ jobless construction workers and streamlining the patent process for entrepreneurs.
"Our economy as a whole just isn't producing enough jobs," he said, adding that while the nation has added 2 million jobs in recent years, the recession robbed it of 8 million. Obama also made another pitch for a quick resolution of the debt ceiling talks, reports USA Today. "We've got to rein in our deficits," he said, "while still making the investments that put people to work."
