Obama to Hold Jobs Forum

US president Barack Obama will hold a jobs forum next month, gathering business leaders, trade unionists and economists to explore ways of tackling double-digit unemployment.

At a short speech on Thursday before setting off on his first Asia trip as president, Mr Obama said he was “open to any demonstrably good idea” to spur job creation that comes out of the summit as “economic growth has not led to the job growth we desperately need”.

The employment picture has remained stubbornly dismal even as the economy returned to growth. Last month the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 per cent, even after the economy returned to growth, and some 8.2m Americans have lost their jobs since the recession started in December 2007.

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The Obama administration and outside economists have looked at various ways to supplement the main $787bn stimulus programme, which Mr Obama says has created “or saved” about 640,000 jobs.

Tax credits are a prominent option in many people’s thinking but there is a lack of agreement as to whether they can be targeted directly at jobs created or whether that option is too ripe for fraud.

Investment tax credits, which would indirectly encourage businesses to hire more workers, could be a plausible alternative, especially as they have been used previously by Republican administrations and could therefore provide political cover to the Obama White House.

Mr Obama seemed on Thursday to be wary of the charge that his administration has become too interventionist, saying: “We all know there are limits to what government can and should do, even during such difficult times.”