Obama on Jobs: 'We've Still Got a Long Way to Go'

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." (More President Obama stories.)