During a pre-holiday speech at Andrews Airforce Base, President Obama expressed his optimism about the unemployment crisis despite a drop in June 2010 unemployment. The Department of Labor reported a net decline of 125,000 jobs but that number was skewed due to the planned termination of 225,000 Census workers.

 

Instead of focusing on the net decline in unemployment, President Obama reminded Americans that for the sixth straight month there has been job growth in the private sector. In June 2010, 83,000 new private sector jobs were added.

 

While President Obama is optimistic about the continued, albeit slow, job growth, he does acknowledge that the end is not yet in sight.

“Now, make no mistake:  We are headed in the right direction.  But as I was reminded on a trip to Racine, Wisconsin, earlier this week, we’re not headed there fast enough for a lot of Americans.  We’re not headed there fast enough for me, either.  The recession dug us a hole of about 8 million jobs deep.  And we continue to fight headwinds from volatile global markets.  So we still have a great deal of work to do to repair the economy and get the American people back to work.” Source: White House

During the same speech, President Obama discusses the Summer of Recovery which will bring thousands Recovery Act-funded green jobs to Americans across the country. Hopefully these projects will help boost future employment figures.