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Obama's top goal in 2nd year is to create jobs: White House

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-20 04:51

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama's top priority in his second year in office is to create jobs and revitalize the economy, the White House said on Tuesday.

"The top priority is to continue to work hard on getting this economy back on track and creating jobs," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at a news briefing.

Obama, who completes a full year at the White House this week, is facing criticism since the country's unemployment, currently at 10 percent, keeps at a 26-year high.

Economists expect that unemployment will not resume to normal level in the next five or six years given the magnitude of this round of global financial crisis and economic recession.

A newly-released Gallop poll showed that the president's supporting rate dropped significantly. To fight the "jobless recovery" is a key concern of the Obama administration.

The U.S. government has suggested a second round of job creation initiatives on top of a 787-billion-dollar stimulus package enacted in February 2009 to aid the economy, and the House of Representatives approved a 15-billion-dollar job bill in December.