WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to tell Americans that this week's positive job and economic growth figures are yet more evidence that the U.S. economy is recovering.
But he cautioned "we have a long way to go before we return to prosperity" and more job losses were likely in coming days.
The U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.8 percent, despite a $787 billion economic stimulus that Obama and his fellow Democrats, who control Congress, pushed through in February.
But good news for the Obama administration this week was new data showing the U.S. economy growing in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years.
"Now, economic growth is not substitute for job growth," Obama said in his radio address. "But we will not create the jobs we need unless the economy is growing."
He said a series of steps taken by his administration to jump-start the economy, including the stimulus package of spending and tax cuts, had helped "blunt the worst of this recession."
The White House said on Friday the stimulus had saved or created more than 640,000 jobs so far, based on data about who had received loans or grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Critics say the data is incomplete and riddled with inconsistencies. Republicans, who favor tax cuts, say the stimulus has failed to halt rising joblessness.
"As I've said many times, it took years to dig our way into the crisis we've faced. It will take more than a few months to dig our way out," said Obama, who blames Republicans for the economic crisis he inherited.
Democrats and Republicans agree the economy will be the No.1 issue for the 2010 congressional elections, although the White House has dismissed suggestions that they will be a judgment on Obama and his policies.
(Reporting by Ross Colvin, editing by Anthony Boadle)
