Obama says he won’t rest on the economy

President Barack Obama’s economic advisors assured him Monday that the economy has “core strengths” that will help the country emerge from a brutal recession.

He also said he would not rest until businesses are investing and hiring again, and people are once again working.

The advice was offered at the first meeting of Obama’s cabinet in weeks. It comes as the White House prepared for a jobs summit scheduled for Dec. 3, and grapples with unemployment numbers that keep getting worse.

The jobless rate grew to 10.2 percent in October and appears poised to move higher.

Still, the economy grew in the third quarter of 2009 at a 3.5 percent clip, and Obama’s advisors stressed there are “core strengths to the American economy that will put us in good stead over the long term,” Obama told reporters.

“The key is to bridge where we are now to that more prosperous future,” Obama said.

Obama said his administration has to accelerate job growth. “And I’m confident that we can do it,” he said.

Obama said the his team was able to “stabilize” the economy, but that is only the first step in curing the country’s economic ills.

He said he advised his cabinet to “get a little bit of rest this week,” but he also told them that the holidays are a “time to remember that this has been a very difficult year and lot of people out there are having a very tough time.”

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