President promises to unveil job-creation ideas next week

President Barack Obama said Saturday he'll lay out his plan to spur job growth next week.

In his weekly address, Obama said that he plans to do more to ensure that the economy finally starts adding jobs even though the latest jobs report showed the fewest unemployment claims since the recession began in late 2007.

"In the coming days, I’ll be unveiling additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hiring as we emerge from this economic storm," he said.

He may outline his plans in a speech on the economy scheduled for Tuesday at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The president called the unemployment data for November "the best jobs report we've seen since 2007" when it was released Friday. Only 11,000 jobs were shed last month, the smallest drop since the recession started in December 2007.

Obama noted in his weekly address that 700,000 jobs were being lost monthly when he became president. He credited the $787 billion stimulus for helping avert a depression and finally spark economic growth, but he said that more needs to be done.

"History tells us this is usually what happens with recessions – even as the economy grows, it takes time for jobs to follow," he said. "But the folks who have been looking for work without any luck for months and, in some cases, years, can’t wait any longer. For them, I’m determined to do everything I can to accelerate our progress so we’re actually adding jobs again."

In addition to short-term job creation moves, Obama said he's pushing for long-term economic solutions so that the country won't face a similar crisis. He included in those long-term efforts his plans to reform the healthcare and education systems, move to energy independence and deal with the $12 trillion federal debt. Republicans have warned that the president and congressional Democrats' policies on healthcare, climate change and the economy will lead to regular trillion-dollar deficits.

Obama said that the steps he's taken so far as president were necessary to avert the economic crisis, and he said that they wouldn't preclude an increase in jobs and a rebuilding of the economy.

"I didn’t run for president simply to manage the crisis of the moment, while kicking our most pressing problems down the road," he said. "I ran for president to help hard-working families succeed and to stand up for the embattled middle class. I ran to fight for a country where responsibility is still rewarded, and hard-working people can get ahead."

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