President Obama Focuses on Jobs, Officials Warn of Further Job Losses
Christina Romer: "We will have some down months before we have some up months."
Dec. 8, 2009— -- President Obama is set to deliver a major speech on job creation this morning even as administration officials dampened expectations of a quick recovery on the employment front and warned that the situation is likely to worsen before it improves.
"What we certainly know is the economy is growing again," Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer today. "We do know that on the jobs side, those numbers will be volatile."
"It's likely we will have some down months before we have some up months," she added.
There was a slight dip in unemployment in November, with about 11,000 jobs lost, making it the best jobs report in two years. Despite the better-than-expected numbers, the president has been cautiously optimistic on the jobs front, telling Americans repeatedly that further job losses are likely before numbers start improving.
In a speech at the Brookings Institution today, Obama will lay out his game plan to kick start job growth. Romer said the president will propose development in three different areas: infrastructure, a comprehensive program for small businesses to provide them tax credits and other incentives to boost hiring, and alternative energy and green technology.
"He's going to be talking about our ongoing efforts to try to spur private sector job creation," Romer said. "We think all these fundamentally are programs designed to get the private sector back and we think they are going to be very effective."
Romer dismissed the idea of a second stimulus package after the administration announced yesterday that the 10-year cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to save Wall Street banks would be $200 billion less than expected.
"We've been very successful in bringing stability back to the financial system and that's going to create very substantial resources for the president and the Congress to devote to the immediate priorities to the country," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in an interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper Monday.
