Obama, Cabinet discuss job summit ideas

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Even though the economy is growing, the overall downturn still is impacting many Americans, President Barack Obama said Monday after a Cabinet meeting.

Obama praised the work taken early on in his economic team saying, "we were able to stabilize the financial system and ensure that the economy didn't slip back into a depression."

"Our economy is growing for the first time in more than a year, and we know that economic growth is a prerequisite for job growth," Obama said. "But, having said that, what I emphasize today is we cannot sit back and be satisfied, given the extraordinarily high unemployment levels that we've seen. We have only taken the first step."

Obama, speaking to reporters, said a key purpose of the Cabinet meeting was to "generate good ideas" for the White House jobs summit Dec. 3.

"We are going to be bringing together people from all across the country -- business, labor, academics, non-for-profits, entrepreneurs, small and large businesses -- to explore how we can jump start the hiring that typically lags behind economic growth, but we don't want to wait," Obama said. "We want to see if we can accelerate it."

The president said he also provided an update to Cabinet members on national security, the budget and the healthcare legislation.

Obama said reiterated to the Cabinet "the urgent need for us to get to the finish line and provide relief, both in terms of costs and the quality of coverage that Americans are getting in their healthcare."